NAMPA, Idaho – The Western Oregon track and field team had 10 athletes qualify for Saturday finals while posting two new school records and numerous personal bests on the opening day of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Indoor Championships on Friday at Jacksons Track at the Ford Center.
 
The Wolves had seven male runners qualify for races on Saturday including four in the 800 meters. Dustin Nading led the field in the preliminaries with a time of 1:53.80, just five one-hundredths faster than teammate Josh Dempsey who qualified second at 1:53.85. Michael Chin ran a time of 1:55.29 for fifth place and Thomas Normandeau came in sixth with a time of 1:55.33.
 
In a school record time, AJ Holmberg advanced to the finals in the 400-meter race, crossing the line at 48.40. Devon Fortier just missed getting into the finals at 60 meters, but got into the finals at 200 meters with the seventh-fastest time of 22.54. Codi Blodgett grabbed the final spot for the finals in the 60-meter dash with a personal best time of 7.04.
 
During the field event finals on Friday, Alani Troutman finished fifth in the long jump at 7.20 meters (23-7 ½ ) and Connor Reinke posted a tie for fifth in the high jump at 1.95m (6-4 ¾).
 
After day one, the WOU men are in ninth place with 10.5 points. Alaska Anchorage leads with 48 points after strong showings in the distance finals.
 
On the women's side, Kennedy Rufener had the biggest scoring performance of the meet thus far finishing second in the 5,000-meter race. She led for 22 of the 25 laps before falling behind the lead pace.
 
Suzanne Van De Grift continued her great indoor season by grabbing another school record, this time in the 800 meters with a time of 2:10.88, the second-best time of the day. Olivia Woods also ran a personal best to grab a spot in the finals with the fourth fastest time at 2:12.20. The third WOU qualifying time for the women came in the 400 when Megan Rose won her heat crossing the line at 58.35 in seventh.
 
Three throwers finished in the top 20 in the weighted throw – Rachael Huffman in 11^th place at 13.88 meters (45-6 ¾), Sylvia Dean in 13^th at 13.68m (44-10 ¾) and Alecia Falck in 17^th at 12.75m (41-10 ¼).
 
The second day of the GNAC Indoors will begin at 9:30 a.m. Mountain Time with the men's heptathlon. Field events on Saturday begin at 10 a.m. (Mountain) with the women's shot put. Running events commence at 11 a.m.