SEATTLE – Wait a minute … it's the end of the track season? Already?
Not quite the entire season. But the regular season for Seattle Pacific's athletes will come to a conclusion on Friday when the Falcons head north to Bellingham for the Western Washington Twilite meet. Competition at Civic Stadium, located approximately two miles northeast of Western's campus, begins at 2:45 p.m. with field events. Running events start at 3:25. The last race is set for 8:50 p.m.
The meet will be the final opportunity for SPU athletes to move up the qualifying list for next week's Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships, or just to get onto the list.
Currently, the Falcons have 15 women and six men with automatic spots in the meet. Beyond that, nine women and three men are provisional qualifiers in various events, and three other athletes – one woman and two men – are closing in on provisional qualifying status.
BACK ON SCHEDULE
The Twilite meet is returning to its customary Friday afternoon/evening time slot. A scheduling conflict at Civic Stadium last year forced the meet to move to a Saturday afternoon. Along with that came a tongue-in-cheek name change: The Not-So-Twilite meet.
VALENTINE GARNERS GNAC AWARD
Falcons senior Myisha Valentine (Mountlake Terrace, Wash./North Sound Christian HS) was named the women's track and field Athlete of the Week this past Monday for her performance at the Saint Martin's Invitational on April 28.
Valentine won the 100 meters and 200 meters, both in personal-best times on the track in Lacey. Her 200 time of 24.94 seconds was her first below 25 seconds and was the fourth-fastest in conference history. It bettered her previous mark of 25.18 which she had set just one week earlier at the Beach Invitational in Norwalk, Calif.
In the 100, Valentine came across the finish line in 12.32 seconds, a quarter-second drop from her old mark of 12.57.
WORTHEN DOES IT AGAIN IN GNAC HEPTATHLON
Seattle Pacific senior Ali Worthen was at her very best not once, not twice, but five times in seven events on the way to claiming her second straight GNAC women's heptathlon championship earlier this week. Worthen (Coos Bay, Ore.) tallied 5,199 points (which was another PR) to shatter the old conference record of 5,053 set by Western Oregon's Bridget Johnson in 2006.
Falcons junior Nate Johnson came up short of a second consecutive GNAC men's decathlon crown, but still earned silver with 6,474 points. Johnson set a personal-best mark of 14 feet, 5¼ inches in the pole vault on Tuesday, and tied his 100 meters PR of 11.45 seconds on Monday.
SCOUTING THE WESTERN WASHINGTON TWILITE
Most of the Falcons are scheduled to be in action on Friday, getting in their final competitive tune-ups before conference. Conditions are not expected to be ideal, with a forecast of showers and temperatures in the low to mid 50s.
Several of them will have plenty at stake. Among those is senior javelin thrower Carly Andrews (Issaquah, Wash./Issaquah HS). She currently is 22nd on the NCAA qualifying list with a season-best 136-0. Last year, the top 17 made it to nationals, and the current No. 17 mark is 138-9. Andrews made it to nationals last year and wound up third with a career-best 144-9.
Senior pole vaulter Terra Schumacher (Sublimity, Ore.) is No. 24 on the pole vault qualifying list at 11-9¾. In 2011, a total of 17 were taken (including Schumacher). The current No. 17 height is 12-0½. Schumacher has gone as high as 12-2 ¾ as a Falcon.
Freshman Jasmine Johnson (Federal Way, Wash./Federal Way HS) is entered in the 400 and 800. It's not likely that she'll do both, but her 800 time of 2:15.30 is on the brink of the NCAA provisional mark of 2:14.00. The main event for sophomore Kishia Mitchell (Puyallup, Wash./Rogers HS) probably will be the 4-by-100 relay. But she's also in the 400 hurdles. Her 1:03.33 ranks No. 2 in the GNAC and has her on the brink of the NCAA provisional time of 1:02.50.
Junior AJ Baker (Au Gres, Mich.) ran an NCAA-qualifying 9:17.36 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase on April 19 at the Mt. Sac Relays. That puts him less than five seconds away from his PR of 9:12.98.
Nate Seely (Lynden, Wash./Lynden HS) is right on the bubble in the NCAA 800 standings at No. 17 with his 1:51.95, and he'll try to improve on that. Junior Ryan Endresen (Portland, Ore.) broke out with a season-best run of 54.15 in the 400 hurdles last Saturday at Saint Martin's, and will see if he can get back into the 53s on Friday.
SPEEDING TOWARD SOME BIG POINTS?
Seattle Pacific's women are bunched near the top of the pack in all three sprint races just one week away from the conference meet.
In the 100, the Falcons have four among the top eight, paced by GNAC leader and defending champion Kishia Mitchell with her time of 12.24 seconds. SPU also is 3-5-6 in that race with Myisha Valentine, freshman Tasia Baldwin (Tacoma / Foss HS) and sophomore BryAnne Wochnick (Portland, Ore.), respectively.
The top eight in the 200 has five Falcons in it, with Valentine and Mitchell currently 2-3 behind freshman Grace Morgan of Alaska Anchorage. In the 400, SPU has four of the top eight, again led by Valentine at No. 2 behind Western Washington star Eleanor Siler.
TRYING TO FIND SOME POINTS
The SPU men have just one runner among the top 16 in the sprints – and that's junior Nate Seely, who is No. 10 in the 400, but whose primary focus is the 800. However, freshman David Ferguson (Inverness, Ill.) has a chance to put himself into the picture on Friday at the WWU Twilite when he steps to the starting line in the 100 and 200.
Ferguson is 17th in the 200 as a provisional qualifier at 22.56. The 16th spot currently is 22.50. The GNAC automatic qualifying mark is 22.40. In the 100, Ferguson got his provisional qual time of 11.26 last weekend, but that still leaves him in 20th on the GNAC list. The No. 16 time heading into this weekend is 11.16. Conference automatic is 10.97.
REVVIN' UP THOSE RELAYS
The Falcons get two more chances to see if they can get their relays on to the NCAA provisional qualifying list, and if this week's entry list is any indication, they're going to stack both of their women's foursomes on Friday in Bellingham. The 4-by-100 team is penciled in as BryAnne Wochnick, Ali Worthen, Myisha Valentine and Kishia Mitchell. The 4-by-400 will be picked from among Valentine, Worthen, Jasmine Johnson, Emily Quatier and McKayla Fricker.
However, it'll take much more than just getting a provisional mark to make it to Pueblo, Colo., for nationals. The 4-by-100 minimum time is 47.20, but the bubble time is currently 46.39. In the 4-by-400, the provisional standard is 3:50.00; the current 16th-place national time is 3:46.85.
GROSS THROWING FARTHER AND FARTHER
Katy Gross has set career bests in the javelin in three of her last four meets – and now finds herself on the NCAA provisional qualifying list. The Falcons junior came into the season with a PR of 129 feet, 7 inches. After falling just an inch short of that on April 3 at the Sam Adams Multi-Event in Santa Barbara, Calif., Gross threw 129-9 on April 14 at the Emilie Mondor-Simon Fraser Invitational. She improved to 131-0 a week later at the Beach Invitational in Norwalk, Calif., leaving her just two inches short of the provisional minimum.
On Tuesday at the GNAC Mulit-Event Championships in Ellensburg, Gross cut loose with a toss of 134-7. That ranks 24th in the country. If the NCAA were to accept 17 for nationals, as it did last year, the current distance to meet or beat is 138-9.
RETRACING THEIR STEPS: SAINT MARTIN'S INVITATIONAL
SPU won four women's events and one men's event last Saturday at the Saint Martin's Invitational in Lacey. On the women's side, senior Myisha Valentine won the 100 meters (12.32) and 200 meters (24.94); senior Carly Andrews took the javelin at 131-7; and the 4-by-400 relay team of BryAnne Wochnick, Emily Quatier, Jasmine Johnson and Kelsey Chase prevailed in 3:56.59.
Junior Ryan Endresen (Portland, Ore.) took the men's 400-meter hurdles in 54.15 seconds.
SHE'S NO. 1
Former SPU star Jessica Tebo (formerly Pixler) ran the nation's fastest collegiate 5,000 meters last Sunday in the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational at Stanford University. Tebo went the distance in 15 minutes, 19.43 seconds. That gives her a lead of nearly four seconds over Abbey D'Agostino of Dartmouth (15:23.35).
Tebo, competing as a redshirt senior for Colorado while doing graduate work there, was sixth overall in the fastest of the three heats, but was the first collegiate athlete to finish. The winner was former Alaska Anchorage star Sally Kipyego, now competing for the Oregon Track Club. Her winning time was 14:43.11
In another heat of the 5,000, Falcon alum Jane Larson finished second in 16:38.85. Larson now competes for Club Northwest Brooks.
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
-- Brittany Aanstad: No. 1 in javelin, 161-11 (NCAA automatic).
-- Carly Andrews: No. 22 in javelin, 136-0 (NCAA provisional).
-- AJ Baker: No. 28 in 3,000 steeplechase, 9:17.36 (provisional).
-- McKayla Fricker: No. 10 in 800 meters, 2:11.57 (provisional).
-- Katy Gross: No. 23 in heptathlon, 4,513 points (provisional), No. 24 in javelin, 134-7 (provisional).
-- Nate Johnson: No. 15 in decathlon, 6,537 points (provisional).
-- Seth Pierson: No. 17 in 1,500 meters, 3:50.48 (provisional).
-- Natty Plunkett: No. 26 in 10,000 meters, 36:29.55 (provisional).
-- Terra Schumacher: No. 24 in pole vault, 11-9 ¾ (provisional).
-- Nate Seely: No. 17 in 800, 1:51.95 (provisional).
-- Ali Worthen: No. 3 in heptathlon, 5,071 points (automatic), No. 14 in high jump , 5-7¾ (provisional), No. 20 in long jump, 18-11 ¾ (provisional), No. 29 in 100 hurdles, 14.30 (provisional).
Click on this link for a look at the GNAC leaders. Click on this link for a look at the list of national qualifiers.
POLLING PLACE
The Seattle Pacific women are No. 22 in this week's USTFCCCA national rankings that were released on Tuesday. The Falcons have 55.64 points. The Falcons were No. 21 last week. For the third week in a row, a new team was No. 1, as Grand Valley State of Michigan replaced Adams State of Colorado on top. Two weeks ago, Grand Canyon was the No. 1-ranked team.
Seattle Pacific remained No. 5 in the West Region rankings with 285.26 points, Grand Canyon remains No. 1 with 427.98, and Alaska Anchorage stayed No. 2 with 348.02.
The USTFCCCA rankings are not determined by coaches polling, as is the case with most other sports. Instead, they are computer-generated, based on marks from the current season.
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for a look at news, notes, schedules and results from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
UP NEXT
Now, it's on to the postseason. The GNAC Championships are set for next Friday and Saturday, May 11 and 12, at McArthur Field on the Western Oregon University campus in Monmouth. Friday's events begin at 2 p.m., and will include just a handful of finals and numerous running preliminaries. The bulk of the titles will be determined on Saturday the 12th starting at 9:30 a.m.
In the 100, Valentine came across the finish line in 12.32 seconds, a quarter-second drop from her old mark of 12.57.
WORTHEN DOES IT AGAIN IN GNAC HEPTATHLON
Seattle Pacific senior Ali Worthen was at her very best not once, not twice, but five times in seven events on the way to claiming her second straight GNAC women's heptathlon championship earlier this week. Worthen (Coos Bay, Ore.) tallied 5,199 points (which was another PR) to shatter the old conference record of 5,053 set by Western Oregon's Bridget Johnson in 2006.
Falcons junior Nate Johnson came up short of a second consecutive GNAC men's decathlon crown, but still earned silver with 6,474 points. Johnson set a personal-best mark of 14 feet, 5¼ inches in the pole vault on Tuesday, and tied his 100 meters PR of 11.45 seconds on Monday.
SCOUTING THE WESTERN WASHINGTON TWILITE
Most of the Falcons are scheduled to be in action on Friday, getting in their final competitive tune-ups before conference. Conditions are not expected to be ideal, with a forecast of showers and temperatures in the low to mid 50s.
Several of them will have plenty at stake. Among those is senior javelin thrower Carly Andrews (Issaquah, Wash./Issaquah HS). She currently is 22nd on the NCAA qualifying list with a season-best 136-0. Last year, the top 17 made it to nationals, and the current No. 17 mark is 138-9. Andrews made it to nationals last year and wound up third with a career-best 144-9.
Senior pole vaulter Terra Schumacher (Sublimity, Ore.) is No. 24 on the pole vault qualifying list at 11-9¾. In 2011, a total of 17 were taken (including Schumacher). The current No. 17 height is 12-0½. Schumacher has gone as high as 12-2 ¾ as a Falcon.
Freshman Jasmine Johnson (Federal Way, Wash./Federal Way HS) is entered in the 400 and 800. It's not likely that she'll do both, but her 800 time of 2:15.30 is on the brink of the NCAA provisional mark of 2:14.00. The main event for sophomore Kishia Mitchell (Puyallup, Wash./Rogers HS) probably will be the 4-by-100 relay. But she's also in the 400 hurdles. Her 1:03.33 ranks No. 2 in the GNAC and has her on the brink of the NCAA provisional time of 1:02.50.
Junior AJ Baker (Au Gres, Mich.) ran an NCAA-qualifying 9:17.36 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase on April 19 at the Mt. Sac Relays. That puts him less than five seconds away from his PR of 9:12.98.
Nate Seely (Lynden, Wash./Lynden HS) is right on the bubble in the NCAA 800 standings at No. 17 with his 1:51.95, and he'll try to improve on that. Junior Ryan Endresen (Portland, Ore.) broke out with a season-best run of 54.15 in the 400 hurdles last Saturday at Saint Martin's, and will see if he can get back into the 53s on Friday.
SPEEDING TOWARD SOME BIG POINTS?
Seattle Pacific's women are bunched near the top of the pack in all three sprint races just one week away from the conference meet.
In the 100, the Falcons have four among the top eight, paced by GNAC leader and defending champion Kishia Mitchell with her time of 12.24 seconds. SPU also is 3-5-6 in that race with Myisha Valentine, freshman Tasia Baldwin (Tacoma / Foss HS) and sophomore BryAnne Wochnick (Portland, Ore.), respectively.
The top eight in the 200 has five Falcons in it, with Valentine and Mitchell currently 2-3 behind freshman Grace Morgan of Alaska Anchorage. In the 400, SPU has four of the top eight, again led by Valentine at No. 2 behind Western Washington star Eleanor Siler.
TRYING TO FIND SOME POINTS
The SPU men have just one runner among the top 16 in the sprints – and that's junior Nate Seely, who is No. 10 in the 400, but whose primary focus is the 800. However, freshman David Ferguson (Inverness, Ill.) has a chance to put himself into the picture on Friday at the WWU Twilite when he steps to the starting line in the 100 and 200.
Ferguson is 17th in the 200 as a provisional qualifier at 22.56. The 16th spot currently is 22.50. The GNAC automatic qualifying mark is 22.40. In the 100, Ferguson got his provisional qual time of 11.26 last weekend, but that still leaves him in 20th on the GNAC list. The No. 16 time heading into this weekend is 11.16. Conference automatic is 10.97.
REVVIN' UP THOSE RELAYS
The Falcons get two more chances to see if they can get their relays on to the NCAA provisional qualifying list, and if this week's entry list is any indication, they're going to stack both of their women's foursomes on Friday in Bellingham. The 4-by-100 team is penciled in as BryAnne Wochnick, Ali Worthen, Myisha Valentine and Kishia Mitchell. The 4-by-400 will be picked from among Valentine, Worthen, Jasmine Johnson, Emily Quatier and McKayla Fricker.
However, it'll take much more than just getting a provisional mark to make it to Pueblo, Colo., for nationals. The 4-by-100 minimum time is 47.20, but the bubble time is currently 46.39. In the 4-by-400, the provisional standard is 3:50.00; the current 16th-place national time is 3:46.85.
GROSS THROWING FARTHER AND FARTHER
Katy Gross has set career bests in the javelin in three of her last four meets – and now finds herself on the NCAA provisional qualifying list. The Falcons junior came into the season with a PR of 129 feet, 7 inches. After falling just an inch short of that on April 3 at the Sam Adams Multi-Event in Santa Barbara, Calif., Gross threw 129-9 on April 14 at the Emilie Mondor-Simon Fraser Invitational. She improved to 131-0 a week later at the Beach Invitational in Norwalk, Calif., leaving her just two inches short of the provisional minimum.
On Tuesday at the GNAC Mulit-Event Championships in Ellensburg, Gross cut loose with a toss of 134-7. That ranks 24th in the country. If the NCAA were to accept 17 for nationals, as it did last year, the current distance to meet or beat is 138-9.
RETRACING THEIR STEPS: SAINT MARTIN'S INVITATIONAL
SPU won four women's events and one men's event last Saturday at the Saint Martin's Invitational in Lacey. On the women's side, senior Myisha Valentine won the 100 meters (12.32) and 200 meters (24.94); senior Carly Andrews took the javelin at 131-7; and the 4-by-400 relay team of BryAnne Wochnick, Emily Quatier, Jasmine Johnson and Kelsey Chase prevailed in 3:56.59.
Junior Ryan Endresen (Portland, Ore.) took the men's 400-meter hurdles in 54.15 seconds.
SHE'S NO. 1
Former SPU star Jessica Tebo (formerly Pixler) ran the nation's fastest collegiate 5,000 meters last Sunday in the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational at Stanford University. Tebo went the distance in 15 minutes, 19.43 seconds. That gives her a lead of nearly four seconds over Abbey D'Agostino of Dartmouth (15:23.35).
Tebo, competing as a redshirt senior for Colorado while doing graduate work there, was sixth overall in the fastest of the three heats, but was the first collegiate athlete to finish. The winner was former Alaska Anchorage star Sally Kipyego, now competing for the Oregon Track Club. Her winning time was 14:43.11
In another heat of the 5,000, Falcon alum Jane Larson finished second in 16:38.85. Larson now competes for Club Northwest Brooks.
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
-- Brittany Aanstad: No. 1 in javelin, 161-11 (NCAA automatic).
-- Carly Andrews: No. 22 in javelin, 136-0 (NCAA provisional).
-- AJ Baker: No. 28 in 3,000 steeplechase, 9:17.36 (provisional).
-- McKayla Fricker: No. 10 in 800 meters, 2:11.57 (provisional).
-- Katy Gross: No. 23 in heptathlon, 4,513 points (provisional), No. 24 in javelin, 134-7 (provisional).
-- Nate Johnson: No. 15 in decathlon, 6,537 points (provisional).
-- Seth Pierson: No. 17 in 1,500 meters, 3:50.48 (provisional).
-- Natty Plunkett: No. 26 in 10,000 meters, 36:29.55 (provisional).
-- Terra Schumacher: No. 24 in pole vault, 11-9 ¾ (provisional).
-- Nate Seely: No. 17 in 800, 1:51.95 (provisional).
-- Ali Worthen: No. 3 in heptathlon, 5,071 points (automatic), No. 14 in high jump , 5-7¾ (provisional), No. 20 in long jump, 18-11 ¾ (provisional), No. 29 in 100 hurdles, 14.30 (provisional).
Click on this link for a look at the GNAC leaders. Click on this link for a look at the list of national qualifiers.
POLLING PLACE
The Seattle Pacific women are No. 22 in this week's USTFCCCA national rankings that were released on Tuesday. The Falcons have 55.64 points. The Falcons were No. 21 last week. For the third week in a row, a new team was No. 1, as Grand Valley State of Michigan replaced Adams State of Colorado on top. Two weeks ago, Grand Canyon was the No. 1-ranked team.
Seattle Pacific remained No. 5 in the West Region rankings with 285.26 points, Grand Canyon remains No. 1 with 427.98, and Alaska Anchorage stayed No. 2 with 348.02.
The USTFCCCA rankings are not determined by coaches polling, as is the case with most other sports. Instead, they are computer-generated, based on marks from the current season.
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for a look at news, notes, schedules and results from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
UP NEXT
Now, it's on to the postseason. The GNAC Championships are set for next Friday and Saturday, May 11 and 12, at McArthur Field on the Western Oregon University campus in Monmouth. Friday's events begin at 2 p.m., and will include just a handful of finals and numerous running preliminaries. The bulk of the titles will be determined on Saturday the 12th starting at 9:30 a.m.