Simson Garcia | Sports Editor
Western’s track and field teams competed in multiple events in Nampa, Idaho on Feb. 16 and 17. The team raced in the GNAC championships, and totaled scores of 43, good for seventh place for the women’s team, and 91 for the men’s, good for third.
Seniors David Ribich and Kennedy Rufener led the pack in their performances. Ribich ran twice, splitting efforts between the 800-meter and mile run.
For Ribich’s first place finish times of 4:11.08 in the mile, and 1:50.83 for the 800, he got the attention of GNAC coaches, who awarded him the Track Athlete of the Meet honor, and Performance of the Meet for his 800-meter run. “The award from coaches was a surprise to me for I thought other guys on opposing teams had a fair chance at the award” said Ribich.
Also in that men’s mile, three runners — junior Dustin Nading, sophomore Justin Crosswhite and senior Parker Marson, ran to consecutive finishes, following Ribich’s first place finish.
“I was ecstatic about the results this weekend,” said Ribich. “We were in close competition for the overall team title and the focus and commitment to each other was visibly seen. Neal Cranston, just a freshman, made the final and competed like an upperclassman.” Cranston crossed the line in sixth place in the 800 final.
Rufener ran her fastest down the stretch of the 5k, which earned her the conference title and a provisional qualification for the Nationals. “I made sure to stay very comfortable during the race and not to get too excited and with about a mile left to go I made my move” said Rufener.
The women’s team overall nearly doubled their total from the 2017 GNAC championships and moved two positions from where they stood a year ago.
Rufener also spoke of the overall team performance and mentioned that the team wanted to score the most points they could in this last chance attempt to qualify for the Nationals. “Finishing two spots up from last year is an improvement and something to be happy about and I wish I had another indoor season to experience it again … Suzie (Van De Grift) ran great in the mile with a 2nd place finish and Olivia (Woods) and Megan (Rose) had great races in the 800 finishing 5 and 6.” Woods is a junior while Rose and Van De Grift are seniors.
Both men’s and women’s medley relay team’s finished second with times of 11:48.58 and 10:13.68, respectively.
The field roster helped rack up more points as well, as sophomore Alani Troutman completed his long jump in fourth with a measurement of 22-7 3/4 (6.90m) and added five more points to the men’s team’s total.
Sophomore Mariah Gronbach added three points to the women’s team’s total from her sixth place weight throw finish that measured 52-4 1/2 (15.96m).
Western will travel back up to the Dempsey field in Seattle, Washington, on Feb. 24, where they’ll visit the Seattle Pacific Falcons in a final qualifier meet.
Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu
Photo by: wouwolves.com
