Seattle, WA - Opening their 2010 Indoor Track and Field season at the Dempsey Indoor Preview, hosted by the University of Washington, the Simon Fraser University Clan track and field team had an impressive showing on Saturday afternoon, as 19 members of the team posted qualifying times for the NAIA National Championships.

"Having 19 qualifying performances during the opening weekend is just amazing," said SFU head coach Brit Townsend of the meet. "A really strong showing by both the men and women to start the season, and we hope to build on those performances in the coming weeks."

On the women's side, SFU highlights included a dominant team performance in the 600m, with Helen Crofts (West Vancouver, B.C.) posting a meet best time of 1:30.86 to secure her spot at the NAIA National Championships. Crofts led three other SFU runners to qualifying times in the 600m, with sisters Brianna and Michaela Kane (Roberts Creek, B.C.) finishing second (1:32.79) and third (1:33.89) in their respective heat, while Olivia Brennan (Regina, SK) posted a personal best time of 1:36.48 to qualify for Nationals.

Elsewhere, Jessica Smith (North Vancouver, B.C.) posted a time of 4:52.50 to qualify in the mile, while Angela Shaw posted a time of 4:58.06 to win her heat and qualify for Nationals. Ali Hudson and Holly Stockall also qualified in the mile. Rachelle Barnett qualified for the Clan in the high jump with a mark of 1.68m.

On the men's side, Tyson Unruh, Adam Newton and Andrew Boss all qualified for Nationals in the 400m with times of 49.15, 49.29 and 49.42 respectively. The trio also qualified alongside Darcy Achari in the 4x400m relay in a time of 3:15.53.

In the 3000m, Keir Forster, Kevin Friesen and Ryan Brockerville all qualified for Nationals with times of 8:37.18, 8:39.95 and 8:43.25, while Sviatoslav Moldanov received a provisional qualification in the triple jump with a leap of 14.12m.

Full results are available at:

http://www.gohuskies.com/sports/c-track/stats/2009-2010/indoorpreview10.html