Demonstrating mid-season form, the Simon Fraser University's women's distant medley relay team put up an impressive run en route to a strong win at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships last week in Nampa, Idaho.
The squad, which includes Mairin Shields-Brown, Renate Bluschke, Megan Roxby and Addy Townsend, finished nearly 13 seconds faster than Seattle Pacific, with a time of 12:03.55. It was also the fourth time in the past five years that SFU captured the crown. The quartet entered the race with some momentum, having won the John Thomas Terrier Classic-Boston University distance medley event three weeks earlier in 11:36.73.
Townsend was also a top finisher in two other races on Day 2 of the event, topping the women's mile in 4:58.62, and the women's 800m in 2:10.87. As well as running the last leg of SFU's 4x400m relay in a silver medal performance, the Coquitlam native was named the women's Track Athlete of the Meet.
Capturing the men's mile was SFU's Charlie Dannatt, with a time of 4:13.42, just ahead of teammate and runner-up Rowan Doherty. Jeremiah Lauzon, meanwhile, topped the men's 200m with a dash of 21.71.
Taking second with a personal best of 1.67m clearance in the high jump was Sydney Kania.
Chelsea Ribeiro picked up silver in the women's 5000m race, while Olivia Willett finished fourth. Chris Sobczak placed third in the men's 5000m.
The athletes continue to prepare for the NCAA Indoor championships, which begin March 13 in Birmingham, Alabama.
