Track & Field | 2/15/2012 6:38:00 PM

[Meet Program] [Meet Schedule] [Heat Sheets]

What's happening:
After months of training and five weeks of competition the Western Oregon track & field teams are set for the 2012 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Indoor Championships. Both the men's and women's teams will head to Nampa, Idaho to take part in the meet Feb. 17-18 at the Idaho Center Sports Complex.

The GNAC Championships:
For the second straight year the GNAC Championships will be a two-day competition. The meet will begin on Friday at 10:15 a.m. with the multi-events. The meet will extend into the evening with a number of field events and preliminary sprint and hurdles races. The GNAC Championships will resume on Saturday at 8:00 a.m. and conclude around 2:30 p.m.

Men ranked second in the West:
The Western Oregon men's track & field team has recently jumped Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene into second place in the USTFCCCA NCAA Division II West Regional rankings. The men sit with 346.54 points in the poll to edge third-ranked CWU by 12. The men control a top 4 spot in the region in seven different events. Both Ryan Hansen (800m) and the distance medley relay team have the top marks in the region this season.

On women's side, Western Oregon is ninth in the West Region with 114.6 points. They are one of five team from the GNAC ranked in the top 10, and their 800m runner, Janelle Everetts, paces the region with a time of 2:13.7.

The men are streaking:
The Western Oregon men's track & field team has claimed the past four GNAC Indoor titles, and the last three GNAC championships. They will head into this weekend looking to make it five straight indoor titles, but will face many challenges along the way. The team will be searching for ways to make up 25 points in the throwing events after the graduation of the 2011 shot put champion Jason Slowey and the weight throw champion Matt Schryvers.

Some of those points may be made up in the horizontal jumping events where the Wolves bring back the last two GNAC long jump champions and Freshmen of the Year. Matson Hardie returns to the squad after sitting out the 2011 due to injury. In 2010 he was named the Most Outstanding Performer at the meet after he scored 23.5 points for the Wolves, which including taking second in the triple jump and first in the long jump. Kyle Lane followed that up in 2011 by winning the long jump competition and taking home Freshman of the Year honors. Both Hardie and Lane will be joined by two other Wolves jumpers in the long jump, and three more in the triple.

Women seek first indoor title:
At this time every other women's team in the GNAC would like to see someone put an end to Seattle Pacific's dominance in the GNAC Indoor Championships. The Falcons of SPU have won all eight GNAC indoor titles since the event began in 2004. The Wolves will be led by Ashley Potter and Madison McClung, who sit atop the GNAC in the triple jump and 60m dash, respectively. Potter, who will be competing in the 60m hurdles along with her traditional jumping events, was the GNAC long jump champion in 2010 and the conference Newcomer of the Year.

The Facility:
The meet will be held in the Idaho Sports Complex and on the Jacksons Indoor Track. The complex is a 100,000 square foot multi-purpose building that houses the only Mondo 200-meter track west of Nebraska. The Idaho Sports Center has played host to numerous top ranked collegiate meets and housed the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Championships as well as the Western Athletic Conference and the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Indoor Championships. It is a banked track with run ways in the center for jumping events. The throwing events are located on the north side of the track.

Words of Coach Johnson:
Western Oregon head track & field coach Mike Johnson also offered insight into the different story lines taking place for the Wolves at the GNAC Indoor Championships.

On the women's team: "For Indoors we are ready to go. I feel we are just rounding into shape so we will find out soon if they are ready to go this weekend. We are a better outdoor team than we are an indoor team. We had a couple of women before the season that we decided we would train all the way through the indoor season because they weren't healthy. But now they are healthy but don't have a qualifying mark because we trained them right through indoors, so we are short a few people."

On the men's team: "We are a little shallow in the throws right now but we are deep in other areas. We keep getting better but so do many of the teams in the conference so it is going to be a very challenging competition. If you are a track fan it is great because there will be big point swings from event to event."

On participating in a scoring meet: "I don't think we do the scoring meets enough. I think it makes getting a team together easier and I wish there were other opportunities (to do this). It is just not something we are doing enough in the sport right now. I actually think we will be a better team coming out of the meet than we are going into it."

On the men's GNAC title defense:  "The men are very competitive about defending their GNAC title, but it is odd because we just try to go into this and do the best we can on that day, in that meet, and so far that has allowed us to be successful. But I don't think you go in with the idea of focusing on the championship. You go in focused on this race, this throw or this jump, and that is our focus. I am confident we will go in and do a great job, but how that comes out (is yet to be determined) because other teams are trying to do the exact same thing."