SPOKANE, Wash. – The 2021-22 LC State Track and Field season opener was nothing short of a success thanks to seven school records and five national qualifiers. The Warriors became one of the first schools to compete at Spokane’s state-of-the-art indoor athletic facility, the Podium, in its inaugural event, the Spokane Invitational.
“Pretty excited about our results for this meet considering how early it is in the year,” Head Coach Mike Collins said. “Have some work to do and with the next three to four weeks off. For at least kids training on their own, it’s going to take a lot of incentive, motivation and drive for them to stay on top of their conditioning so we can continue this and progress into the rest of our indoor season.
“We are excited about qualifiers today, with both Clayton (VanDyke) and Cole (Olsen) returning in good form and already qualifying for nationals. Really pleased with some of our young girls including Madigan Kelly who qualified and broke a school record today and Anika Grogan who didn’t qualify but set a school record. We have a female triple jumper who I think is going to end up qualifying before it’s all said and done, and the other thing I would note about the local kids is that it is great to see them come out and represent their communities.”
THE MEN
Fifth-year Cole Olsen started the running events off strong for the Warriors. In the 5,000m, Olsen earned a first-place finish, school record, and set the facility record with a dominate time of 14:33. He created a gap of about 30 seconds between himself and the next racer across the line. The time also earned Olsen an automatic national-qualifying standard. Teammates Brycen Kempton and Connor Turpin joined him in the event. Kempton finished 11th with a time of 15:37 and Turpin was right on his heels, finishing in 12th (15:38).
Clayton VanDyke had impressive performances in the 800m and the 1600m. In the 800m, he broke his own school record with a time of 1:52 and secured a spot at nationals. VanDyke placed 3rd in the 1600m with a time of 4:13. Dillon Dawson and Brycen Brown joined him in the event as well. Dawson ran a 4:23 to earn a spot at 12th and Brown finished in 16th with a time of 4:26.
Freshman London Kirk finished 12th in the 200m with a school record time of 22.57.
THE WOMEN
Freshman Madigan Kelly had a standout college debut with her performance in the 60m hurdles. The Lewiston native set a school record and hit a national-qualifying standard with a prelim time of 9.15, which advanced her to the finals where she finished fifth with a 9.20. Just a few minutes before Kelly broke the record, her teammate Sara Hathaway broke the school record in the event with a 9.36 in prelims, where she placed 13th.
Sophomore Anika Grogan also shined at the Podium today. The Lewiston High School graduate ran the 60m dash with school record time of 7.98, and finished 13th in the 200m with a time of 25.68, setting a school record for that event.
The 4x400m relay team of Grogan, Karlie Smith, Kelly, and Ashley Britt hit a national-qualifying standard with a time of 3:57 to finish third.
Freshman Sydnie Zywina finished 11th in triple jump with a school-record mark of 10.66m. Alexa Horsley had a jump of 10.24m to place 16th.
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