This past weekend, Western’s track and field team had its first chance to shine this season at the University of Washington’s Indoor Preview against teams such as University of Washington, University of Oregon and Stanford. And shine they did.
On Saturday, Jan. 14, Western freshman Brittany Grandy cleared 5-8 feet in the women’s high jump. The jump, which is the fourth best jump in Great Northwest Athletic Conference indoor track history, according to GNAC’s website, earned Grandy second place in the event and a new school record. Clara Cook set the previous Western record in 2007 with a mark of 5-5 ½ feet.
“She loves the high jump,” said coach Kelven “Pee Wee” Halsell. “And to hit that mark first meet is pretty cool.”
Grandy’s 5-8 mark is high enough to automatically qualify her for the GNAC championship, and provisionally qualify her for the NCAA championship, as it is one-inch short of automatic qualification.
Another freshman high jumper, Brett Watson, also fared well on Saturday, clearing 6-7 ½ feet qualifying him for the GNAC championship as well as earning him fourth place at the preview, and the number three ranking for all-time GNAC indoor track records.
“The high jump seemed to be a good area,” Halsell said. “We’ve been working a lot more on the high jump this year than we have in the past.”
The Vikings excelled at more than just the high jump at the meet. Western junior Karis Anderson placed seventh, clearing 11-8 in the women’s pole vault.
Western freshman Karsten Schick placed tenth in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.94 seconds, then ran part of the men’s 4x400 meter relay, which finished eighth with a time of 3:27.76.
Senior Eleanor Siler not only finished sixth in the 400-meter at 58.62 seconds, but also ran the first leg of the seventh-place finishing women’s 4x400 that completed the race in 4:04.68.
The results of the preview show promise for this season, despite some empty spots on the team left by the graduation of last year’s seniors.
“Last year we graduated a lot of superstars,” Halsell said. “I think this meet shows us our depth and that we are going to have a good solid squad.”
Full results of the meet can be found on the Viking track and field team website.
Western track and field’s next event is the University of Washington Indoor Invitational on Jan. 27 and 28.
Related articles:
