Spokane too deep for Titans

SPOKANE FALLS, WA - The Lane Track and Field Team battled hard both days of the NWAACC Championships and even outscored their predicted point totals, but still came up short of upsetting the defending Champion Sasquatch.  Day 2 events had cool temperatures, sunshine, and a strong head wind on the home stretch which effected times, performances, and strategies.  The Titans were 8 points ahead of Spokane on the Women's side going into day 2, with the men only 13 points back of Spokane. 

The day started off with a third place Women's 4x100 and season-best victory for the Men's 4x100 (41.61).  Gylany Crossman and Rachel Jensen had a 2-3 finish in the 1500 to both earn All-American honors, as did winner Elias Gedyon and Sam Van de Velde (3rd) in the Men's 1500.  Schuyler Short heaved a season best 44' 9.5" and  was All-American placing third in the Men's Shot Put followed closely in fourth by teammate Danny Parks.  Men's High Jump winner Brandon Nash  cleared 6' 8", with teammates Thomas Cranor, Jacob Robertson, and Joseph Hart clearing 6' 0" to all tie for fifth.  Hart was also third in the Triple Jump.  Allie Church placed second in the Women's 100m and 200m.  Branden Helms won the 100m, and got nipped at the line to finish second in the 200m.  Barry McLaren earned All-American in the Women's 800 followed by Jensen in fifth.  The Men's 800 had 0.71 seconds between first and fifth with Elias Gedyon outleaning Jeff Cottrell (Spokane) to get second, and Stetson Smith getting fifth.  Kevin Accinelli ran a season-best 54.28 getting All-American honors by placing third in the 400H.  Crossman earned her third All-American honor placing second in the Women's 5k, while the Men's 5k had some strong Titan finishes placing Gedyon first, Jacob Berkner third, Michael Maisonville sixth, and Van de Velde seventh.  The Women's 4x400 had a huge season-best of 3:58.33 placing them third, while the men also ran extremely tough getting a season-best 3:15.84 only to get passed in the final 20m and get second to Spokane (3:15.12). 

That summed up the day as the Women placed second in the team standings with 168 points to Spokane's 201.  The Men also placed second behind Spokane's 263.5 points, scoring 234.5.  On the Men's side the league coaches voted Elias Gedyon (pictured) as the Outstanding Track Athlete of the Meet as he was the high point scorer as well with 28 points.  Joseph Hart earned the Outstanding Field Athlete of the Meet.  Head Coach Grady O'Connor was voted as the Women's Coach of the Year.  Please see the link for more Titan finishers and complete results. 

That concludes the season for the Titans, although there will be a few athletes competing in some post-season competitions over the next six weeks.

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