Women’s Rowing
The Vikings’ nationally-ranked rowing team participated in an early season match in Central Oklahoma this weekend. They earned 10 points overall, placing them third. The event featured four teams who hold 12 of the last 14 national championships. Western holds eight of these national wins. The Vikings also participated in the Husky Open in Seattle. This time they brought a novice team to the competition who managed to place fourth.
Track and Field
The Vikings sent several distance runners and sprinters to compete in the Mike Fanelli Track Classic, March 28-30, in Hayward, California. Notable performances were made by Kyle Sager, Dylan Hayes and Sophia Galvez. Sager managed a seventh-place spot in the men’s 800-meter race, out of 132 participants. Hayes finished the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 22nd place, with the fifth-best time in Western’s history, 9:10.99. Galvez also secured a personal record in the 10,000-meter race, securing her time, 36:28.86, as the third-best time for the event in Western’s history. This weekend the team also sent most of its athletes to the UBC Open. The athletes managed to take many first, second and third placings in their endeavors. The men placed first in the 400-meter hurdles, high jump, pole vault, long jump and discus. The women placed first in the pole vault and the 100-meter hurdles and also managed to lead the top four positions in the pole vault.
Softball
On March 25, the Vikings won both games in a double-header against Simon Fraser University. Game one was cut to five innings due to a run rule, with a final score of 9-1. Game two left the audience in suspense as the Vikings went into the seventh inning tied 5-5. However, the Vikings managed a five-point upset in the seventh inning to beat Simon Fraser, 10-5. Multiple home runs were hit in game one by Seli Aholelei and in game two by Emily Benson. On March 27, the Vikings lost to Sonoma State University 9-4. Even in a loss the Vikings still managed to break records. Benson became Western’s all-time run batted in (RBI) leader with 146 in her collegiate career. Benson also managed another multiple home run this game. This puts the number of home runs in her career at 43, just two behind the first-place spot in the GNAC. Over the weekend, March 29-31, the Vikings were in Turlock, California, participating in the Tournament of the Champions. They played five games and won every one. They became the first GNAC team in the 18-year history of the tournament to have a perfect run.
