Firestorm Defend GSAC Championship
Santa Barbara, Calif.- Arizona Christian Men’s Track & Field edged The Master’s to win the 2022 GSAC Championship on Friday at Westmont in Santa Barbara. ACU won by just 12.5 points- the closest men’s track result ever in available GSAC Championship history dating back to 2005. In the process, the Firestorm defended their 2021 crown.
The Firestorm squad produced six individual event GSAC Champions. ACU racked up 25 All-GSAC performers. Savion DeGraffe earned Performer of the Meet and Freshmen of the Year after individually winning two events and placing fourth in a third event. Shaun Wahlstrom repeated as the GSAC discus champion. All three relay teams earned All-GSAC honors. Head Coach Ted Campbell earned GSAC Coach of the Year honors.
Event Details
- Competing teams (with team scores): Arizona Christian- 218, The Master’s- 205.5, Westmont- 150.5, William Jessup- 85, Vanguard- 83, Hope International- 55, OUAZ- 46, Menlo- 5
- Locations: Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA
Top 10 Individual/ Top 5 Team Finishes/ NAIA Cuts/ Records
- 100m- Charles Proby– 11.04 (3rd/All-GSAC)
- 100m- DeGraffe- 11.07 (4th)
- 100m- Greg Tremble– 11.46 (6th/11.38 prelims)
- 100m- Derek Anderson– 11.44 (9th)
- 200m- Proby- 22.41 (2nd/All-GSAC)
- 200m- DeGraffe- 22.64 (4th)
- 400m- Jordan Clayton– 50.77 (5th)
- 1500m- Brandon Ericson– 4:02.38 (9th)
- 5000m- Kody DeHart– 15:38.64 (10th)
- 10000m- Trey Janssen– 33:14.31 (5th)
- 110m Hurdles- Joshua Collier– 15.43 (1st/GSAC Champ)
- 110m Hurdles- Anderson- 16.80 (5th)
- 110m Hurdles- Brian Sosa– 19.32 (8th)
- 400m Hurdles- Collier- 56.31 (3rd/All-GSAC)
- 400m Hurdles- Tommy Cruz– 58.76 (6th)
- 400m Hurdles- Tim Williams– 1:01.14 (7th/1:00.57 prelim)
- 3000m Steeplechase- DeHart- 9:40.79 (2nd/ All-GSAC)
- 4×100 Relay- Proby, Dan Gilbert, DeGraffe, Anderson- 42.95 (2nd/All-GSAC)
- 4×400 Relay- Collier, Clayton, Donavan Joseph, Proby- 3:23.03 (3rd/All-GSAC)
- 4×800 Relay- Joseph, Jaden Morton, Trent Janssen, Ericson- 8:24.65 (3rd/All-GSAC)
- High Jump- DeGraffe- 5’9″ (4th)
- High Jump- Gabe Johnson– 5’6″ (6th)
- Pole Vault- Cruz- 14’1″ (3rd/All-GSAC)
- Pole Vault- Jason Kerr– 8’7″ (9th)
- Long Jump- DeGraffe- 21’3.25″ (1st/GSAC Champ)
- Long Jump- Maurice Rockette– 19’11.75″ (6th)
- Long Jump- Christian Lancaster– 19’9.5″ (8th)
- Long Jump- Cruz- 19’4″ (9th)
- Triple Jump- DeGraffe- 44’4.75″ (1st/GSAC Champ)
- Triple Jump- Lancaster- 40’7.25″ (5th)
- Triple Jump- Maurice Rockette– 39’9″ (6th)
- Shot Put- Jamel Shaw– 42’0.25″ (2nd/All-GSAC)
- Shot Put- Wahlstrom- 34’0.50″ (5th)
- Shot Put- Izayah Manu– 33’4.25″ (8th)
- Shot Put- Kenji Roland– 30’8.25″ (10th)
- Discus- Shaun Wahlstrom– 139’3″ (1st/GSAC Champ)
- Discus- Shaw- 129’8″ (2nd/All-GSAC)
- Discus- Drew Gertenrich– 124’4″ (4th)
- Discus- Manu- 104’6″ (9th)
- Hammer- Shaw- 117’7″ (1st/GSAC Champ)
- Hammer- Manu- 116’9″ (2nd/All-GSAC)
- Hammer- Roland- 107’8″ (4th)
- Hammer- Gertenrich- 94’3″ (6th)
- Hammer- Wahlstrom- 91’9″ (8th)
- Hammer- Bryan Nichols– 86’9″ (9th)
- Javelin- Johnson- 169’9″ (1st/GSAC Champ)
- Javelin- Gertenrich- 152’4″ (4th)
- Javelin- Wahlstrom- 148’8″ (5th)
- Javelin- Roland- 132’1″ (7th)
- Decathlon- Roland- 3444 points (6th)
Thoughts from Coach Campbell
“It was a true team effort this year for the men. In some cases we had to ask the guys to abandon their favorite event for what the team needed versus the opponents. They did it willingly, and with a good attitude. The boys were grateful to their opponent and the officials, and thankful in victory. If you would’ve asked me two and a half weeks ago if we could have won, I would not have been so sure. But all the coaches rally together with the athletes, and we came up with a plan to win. The Firestorm had a great two day championship.”
“This was not a championship like last year, when we had to sprinters win everything that they ran and score 80 points between the two of them. This was a huge team effort as 25 Firestorm men scored points for the team. I would have to say that huge efforts were put forward by Savion. He showed up as a freshman on the scene and competed like a true veteran. He wanted so badly for his team to win.”
“Another standout would be Kody who went into the steeplechase ranked seventh and surprised powerhouse Westmont and The Master’s by getting second place. He is such a great leader. But he showed his teammates how much he cared by leaving it all out there… passing one all American and then another and then another to get second place overall and that grueling 1.8 mile run over 32 barriers and eight water jumps.”
Next On The Schedule
Some of the athletes that are close to a national standard will compete in last chance qualifiers over the next couple of weeks.
