The indoor track and field Western Athletic Conference (WAC) championships occurred last week and the Seattle University Redhawks had several terrific performances. The men’s team finished sixth place overall and the women’s team finished seventh. In the process, six school records were broken over the three day event.
On Wednesday, sophomore Amanda Maddux competed in the women’s pentathlon for the Redhawks which consisted of 60 meter hurdles, the high jump, shot put, the long jump and the 800 meter run. She placed 11th.
Thursday was when most of the action began.
Freshman Alessandra Gonzales set school records in the 60 meter dash and the 200 meter dash with times of 7.81 and 25.84 seconds, respectively.
“She was a freshman who set two records and came out of nowhere with that,” said assistant coach Chad Pharis. “It was awesome to see her step up like that.”
Another school record was broken on Thursday when junior Candice de Sauvage completed the 400 meter dash in 58.18 seconds.
In the women’s 5000 meter run, sophomore Taylor de Laveaga took fourth place and was followed by her teammates Lauren Hammerle and Emily Hedberg who finished in eighth and tenth, respectively.
The men’s 5000 meter run was led by junior Baxter Arguinchona who also finished in fourth and his teammates Graham Kinzel-Grubbs and Caleb Herrera took tenth and eleventh.
Another great performance on Thursday was when sophomore Shaddye Melu took second place in the high jump by clearing the bar at 2.08 meters, or 6 feet and 9.75 inches. He followed up that event on Friday by finishing third in the 400 meter dash and setting a school record with a time of 48.25 seconds earning him the honors of First Team All-WAC.
“You don’t often see an athlete who does well in both track and field events,” said head coach Trisha Steidl. “Shaddye did very well in the high jump and 400. We were not surprised because we knew he was good at both, but it is not very common in our sport.”
Two other school records that were broken occurred in the women’s 4×400 meter relay and the triple jump.
The team of Alessandra Gonzales, Candice de Sauvage, Cali Cull and Mandy Rusch completed the relay with a record time of 3:54.08.
“There was only one women’s sprint event that did not have a school record set,” Pharis said.
Senior Nick Bever broke his own record from one month ago in the triple jump by clearing 13.82 meters and finishing eighth in the event.
Junior Collin Overbay put up some nice performances by earning First Team All-WAC honors in both the mile run and 3000 meter run by taking third place in both events with times of 4:18.30 and
8:40.08 respectively.
The only other Seattle U athlete to earn First Team All-WAC honors was junior Sophie Curatilo who placed second in the mile run with a time of 4:58.93.
Three athletes earned Second Team All-WAC honors for their events.
Junior Austin Thummel-Gravitt finished in sixth place in the 400 meter dash. Senior Stephen Squatrito finished sixth in the pole vault by clearing 4.4 meters. Senior Katie Tougas took fifth place in the long jump by clearing 5.43 meters.
“Overall there were a lot of great performances and breakthroughs that we expected,” Steidl said. “We saw some really competitive fire as they went into this meet.”
Now that the indoor championships are over, the team can look forward to the outdoor season; their first meet will occur on March 22.
“I think this was the best our team has ever performed indoors,” Steidl said. “We are happy with the results and what they mean for us. This is a building block for the outdoor season.”
Editors Emily Hedberg and Collin Overbay and Staff Photographer Taylor De Laveaga are on the track and field team.
