The Seattle University Track and Field team capped off their indoor season with impressive performances across the board at the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Indoor Championships.
The second major day of competition proved to be a resounding success for the Redhawks.
Junior Olivia Stein, with the standout individual performance of the day, captured bronze in the 5,000m with a time of 17:23.02. Sophomore Michelle Newblom achieved a personal best in the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 9.25 seconds—challenging the school record of 9.17 seconds.
Both the men’s and women’s distance medley teams claimed gold medals, each finishing first place in the conference.
The women’s team, consisting of senior Abby Watcher, sophomore Siobhan Rubio, sophomore Shannan Higgins and senior Johanna Erickson, dominated with a winning time of 12:11.88.
The men’s team, led by first year Lance Slichko, junior Eli Boudouris, senior Matthew Seidel and senior Keith Beasley, captured the league title with a time of 10:23.38.
Seidel, ecstatic about his team’s result, could not have asked for more. “I have to say the DMR was the most fun race I’ve done thus far in college, and I’m just thankful for the opportunity,” he said.
On an interesting note, sophomore, Steve Brown was tripped during his heat of the 400 meters. Thus, he was automatically allowed to participate in the finals.
The final day was just as fruitful in terms of solid marks.
Rubio ran an incredible race in the 800 meters to secure third overall in the conference with a time 2:15.37. Rubio, who had been riddled by food poisoning, was surprised by her performance. “I thought I was going to die…it was still a great feeling to have done so well even though I wasn’t feeling too hot,” she said.
Stein, a day after standing atop the podium, showed no signs of fatigue from back-to-back days of competition and captured her second bronze medal in the 3,000 meter run.
The women’s and men’s 4×400 meter relay teams were also conference finalists. The women’s squad—which included first year Jaime Hegg, Wachter, red shirt junior Caylah Lunning and sophomore Renee Soliman— finished in seventh place. The men’s team—consisting of junior Alexandro Carrasco, sophomore Kailan Claiborne, Brown and Beasley—placed in sixth.
Boudouris, Seidel and Slichko all had great outings in the mile run, where they finished fourth, sixth and seventh respectively in the conference. Erickson, adding to a successful day for the distance team, finished in sixth place in the women’s mile.
The Redhawks look forward to utilizing the momentum from their recent successes to carry the team into the upcoming outdoor season which begins on March 16 at the Lewis and Clark Spring Break Open.
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