WEST Vancouver's Helen Crofts added two more track and field titles to her stellar Simon Fraser University resumé, winning both the 400-metre and 1,500metre races at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships Saturday in Monmouth, Ore.
The senior runner began the day with a dominant performance in the 1,500-m final, leading wire-to-wire to win in a time of 4: 26.85. Silver went to another North Shore star as Crofts's SFU teammate Lindsey Butterworth of North Vancouver finished second in a time of 4: 27.22. The times put up by both runners earned them provisional qualification for the NCAA Div. 2 championships.
Crofts, however, was far from finished for the day. Just 26 minutes after winning the 1,500 m she was back on the track and in the starting blocks for the 400-m final. If she was tired it certainly didn't show in her time as she raced to gold in a new GNAC championship record of 54.46.
"It was mentally challenging coming back from the 1,500 to the 400 when they were so close together, but I felt strong and confident which definitely paid off," Crofts said in an SFU release.
With two GNAC golds around her neck Crofts's day still wasn't quite done as she took part in the final event of the meet, the 4x400-m relay, and helped SFU to a silver-medal showing behind Seattle Pacific University.
Crofts and the rest of the SFU qualifiers will now set their sights on the NCAA Div. 2 outdoor championships scheduled for May 23-25 in Pueblo, Colo. While the West Vancouver secondary grad did double duty at 400 and 1,500 m at the GNAC championships, she will split the difference between the two distances at the NCAA championships and focus on her specialty, the 800-m race. In March Crofts won the 800-m race at the 2013 NCAA Div. 2 indoor national championships, becoming the second ever SFU student to claim an NCAA title.
