GNAC Final Results
GNAC Women's Release
GNAC Men's Release

MONMOUTH, Ore. – After the second and final day of competition at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championship, Montana State University Billings came away from the meet with several more new school records and maybe the most exciting race at the event.
 
After two days of competition Yellowjacket student-athletes broke MSUB records in the men's 800m, 1500m, 5,000m, and the 10,000m and in the women's 1500m and the 5,000m.
 
In today's competition, MSUB freshman Cole Campbell moved up several spots in the conference to finish in third place in the men's pole vault.  Campbell came into the meet seeded in fifth place, but put together a great effort under wet and rainy conditions to finish third at the GNAC meet with a height of 4.36m.   
 
On the track, the Frame sisters broke their records in the women's 1500m and 5,000m races.  Nocona Frame set a new MSUB record in the women's 1500m with a time of 4:35.75 to best her time by over five seconds from 4:43.33 set earlier in the season.  She would finish fifth in the race she had entered as a wild card selection.
 
"I am so proud of our athletes today," Head Coach Dave Coppock said.  "We just had some great results on both days.  Nocona Frame ran a great race in the women's 1500m.  She has been really working hard on dropping her time all season in that event, so the MSUB coaches went ahead and entered her in the race even though she didn't have a qualifying mark.  We just thought she has been working so hard, and just had one more really good race in her.  She performed so well; she ran a really smart race and ended up in fifth."
 
Nocona's sister Rio Frame came away with another school record in the women's 5,000m race.  Rio previously held the MSUB record with a time of 18:25.62, but today finished with a time of 18:09.38 to lower her record by over 16 seconds.
 
"You know I give a lot of credit to those athletes that worked so hard this year," Coach Coppock said.  "We might have had a slow start this year, but everyone worked through it, and during this Championship just athletically peaked at the right time."
 
The best result for the Yellowjackets in maybe the most exciting race of the day was in the men's 1500m event.  Two athletes from MSU Billings were entered.  Robert Peterson came into the race seeded fifth while teammate Chase Robinson was seeded sixth.  In their last outing, Peterson and Robinson had finished second and third at the Montana Open, but in the process broke a 42-year old record held by Paul Carpenter from 1972 of 3:55.80.  The two athletes would do it again.
 
With the conference title on the line, both men began the race working as a team.  It was an MSUB held-race from the get-go.  Both Robinson and Peterson would start the race fast, trading off places in the front, not letting another runner slow the pace down.  They kept the other runners in-line and didn't allow any one racer to break free or hold back allowing for a kick runner to take over in the final leg.  At the wire, it would be Senior Chase Robinson who would cross the finish line in first place, setting a new MSUB record of 3:54.35, followed closely by teammate Robert Peterson who finished second in 3:54.47.
 
"It was a really stirring race," Coach Coppock stated.  "I had several coaches come up to me after saying what a great race it was.  Chase and Robert just worked together as a team the whole time, and then I was really happy for Chase who ended up winning.  It was such a great performance, and I am really glad he did that in the final meet of his senior year."
 
Peterson's day wouldn't end with the men's 1500m.  He would come back later and set another school record, this time by finishing fourth in the men's 5,000 with a time of 14:53.27 to best the previous record held by Tyson Vanderby from 2013 of 14:57.21.
 
All told six new track records were set over the course of the two days.  
 
"I think it was a really successful season," Coach Coppock said.  "We started out a little slow, but we ended up really finishing well.  Everybody that placed at conference either ran or threw their personal best, everything seemed to come together at the right time.  Our team is still really short-handed in a lot of events, so we need to fill in some spots in order to score more team points.  All-in-all it was a great year."
 
After two days and by only four points, Alaska Anchorage took home the Women's title over a tie for second by Northwest Nazarene University and Western Washington University.  Western Washington was the winner of the Men's title by 28 points over Alaska Anchorage.  The Men's MSU Billings team scored the most points they ever have at the Outdoor GNAC Champion with 42 points for a seventh place finish.  Corrie Holm scored 10 of the 16 points for the MSUB Women's team with her GNAC title win in the women's discus yesterday.
 
GNAC Championships
5/9/2014 - 5/10/2014
Western Oregon - Monmouth, OR
 
Female Place Team Points
1 Alaska Anchorage, 137
2 Northwest Nazarene, 133
2 Western Washington, 133
4 Seattle Pacific, 121
5 Central Washington, 92
6 Simon Fraser, 77
7 Western Oregon, 63
8 Saint Martin's, 47
9 MSU-Billings, 16
Male Place Team Points
1 Western Washington, 186
2 Alaska Anchorage,158
3 Western Oregon, 113
4 Northwest Nazarene, 109
5 Central Washington, 90
6 Simon Fraser, 77
7 MSU-Billings, 42
8 Saint Martin's, 36
9 Seattle Pacific, 6