Track and Field - W | 5/8/2016 12:15:00 PM

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Simon Fraser University senior middle distance runner Cameron Proceviat ran a personal best and moved up to sixth in the NCAA national rankings in the 800 metres competing Saturday in the Oxy Invitational Track and Field Meet at Jack Kemp Stadium.

Building off his season best time last week, Proceviat was 10th overall out 83 runners at Oxy, clocking 1:49.28 in his heat. The senior from Burnaby is the fastest runner in NCAA of the 35 athletes provisionally qualified for nationals. Five runners have made the qualifying standard of 1:49.00.

"It was a great sharpener and boost for the upcoming GNAC championships," said Clan head coach Brit Townsend. "Cam is gaining confidence with every race towards his goal of capturing a championship title. I am excited to see what he can do in the next few weeks."

The Great Northwest Athletic Championships are set for May 13-14 at Western Oregon University in Monmouth.

Proceviat now owns the second fastest time in GNAC history in the 800 metres.

Proceviat's teammate, sophomore Marc-Antoine Rouleau, who has qualified for the national championships in the 1500, came down with the flu Friday night and was unable to run at Oxy. Rouleau, one of eight student-athletes to qualify for nationals in the event, is currently ranked seventh nationally.  He will be battling Western Oregon's David Ribich (ranked third nationally) for the conference title next week.

All three of the Clan's female 800 metre runners were solid again this week. Sophomore Sophie Dodd improved on her national ranking by running 2:12.05 at Oxy while freshman Addy Townsend finished in 2:12.24 and Alana Mussatto was timed in 2:13.44. All three runners are provisionally qualified for nationals and ranked in the 30s nationally.

"They will all need to shave a couple of seconds off if they are going to secure a spot to nationals," said Townsend. "Each one of them is very capable of qualifying but the 800 has become such an incredibly competitive event in the NCAA that it will take 2:10 to qualify."

Simon Fraser junior Ella Brown had another strong weekend in the triple jump, managing a leap of 11.87, after fouling her best jump. Brown will be battling Western Washington junior Jasmine McMullin at the conference championships. The two top-ranked jumpers in the GNAC are both provisionally qualified for nationals but will need to improve on their performances to earn invites to the national meet.

Brown is ranked 25^th nationally on the strength of a 12.02 metres she jumped at the Stanford Invitational earlier in the season while McMullin is ranked 19^th with a 12.08 mark.

SFU freshman sprinter Valda Kabia ran close to her personal best in both the 100 and 200 on Saturday. She battled hard to win her heat in the 200 in 24.89. She finished the 100 in 12.36.

Kabia sits fifth in the conference in the 100 and third in the 200. "Valda is becoming very confident in her races and she is looking forward to competing for the GNAC title," said Townsend.
 
The Clan foursome of Townsend, Dodd, Mussatto and Monique Lisek all came together in the 4x400 to improve their season time to 3:51.77 which ranks third in the GNAC behind Seattle Pacific and Western Oregon.

Lisek, who ranks fourth in the GNAC in the 400 hurdles, had a rough first hurdle in the race at Oxy and settled for 1:05.53. That time was well off her 1:02.25 she ran earlier this season.

Follow the SFU Clan track and field team on the team's official Twitter account at Twitter.com/SFUTrack.  

--@SFUClan--