Coming up...
Thr.-Sat., May 24-26 -- TRACK & FIELD at NCAA DIV. II CHAMPIONSHIPS, Ralph Korte Stadium, Edwardsville, Il.

Complete Women's Track Schedule

Complete Men's Track Schedule

Finish line in sight...
They spent the first 12 weeks of the track & field season seeking berths in the NCAA Championships. Now that they've made it, seven members of the Seattle Pacific University women's team have adjusted their sights higher still. The Falcons feature a couple individual title contenders plus the potential to finish among the top 15 teams at next week's (May 24-26) Div. II national meet on the campus of Southern Illinois Edwardsville.

Not bad, considering...
Despite the fact that SPU lost two of last year's NCAA scorers to illness and injury, the seven qualifiers pulled from the provisional standard list represents the second-largest group the school has sent to nationals in the past nine years. And the nine total entries is the most in 10 years and a net gain of two from a year ago.

Anything's possible...
Although the Falcons don't have a favorite in any particular event, they have some bona fide contenders in a few wide-open fields. Rachel Ross (Jr., Kennewick, Wa.) will run three different events, and is ranked No. 4 among qualifiers in both the 800- and 1500-meter runs. She was sixth in the 800 final as a freshman and a ninth a year ago. This will be her first time doubling in both the 800 and 1500. Stephanie Huffman (Jr., Brush Prairie, Wa./Prairie) enters with the No. 6 score in the heptathlon but rose to the challenge two years ago, hitting personal-best marks in each of the seven events and finishing in second place. This year, she also owns the No. 3 throw in the javelin--a most combustible event. The last SPU athlete to win an NCAA outdoor title was Karin Grelsson in the 1993 heptathlon and overall the school has 20 women and seven men collegiate champions.

Also pulling double duty...
Coach Jack Hoyt (2nd year) and assistant coach Doris Heritage (34th year) will be kept busy shuttling their athletes back forth to the track. Four of the women are involved in at least two events. Besides Ross and Huffman, hurdler Karen Summers (Sr., Bremerton, Wa./Seattle Christian) and sprinter Cyrena Bell (Sr., Kent, Wa./Christian Faith) also run legs of he 1600 relay. Bell is making her fourth straight trip to the NCAAs--she has gone with the relay three times before‹but this will be her first entry in an open individual event. Summers is a three-time qualifier with relays and was seventh in the 2000 finals of the 400 hurdles. Sarah Kraybill (So., Seattle, Wa./Ballard), the fourth and final member of he relay, competed at the 2000 NCAAs in both the relay and 400.

First time for two...
In addition to the five veterans, Hoyt and Heritage also have a pair of freshmen in the mix. Ally Studer (Fr., Redmond, Wa./Redmond) has been virtually assured of qualification since mid-March, when she pole vaulted 11-11 3/4. She has since moved her school record up to 12-2 and now is tied for fourth among the field. Like Studer, distance runner Jamie Witt (Fr., Folsom, Ca.) got off to a strong start. But a back injury and an inability to race for five of the last six weeks put Witt in a precarious position. Ultimately, her opening day, Mar. 3 time of 10:06.21 in the 3000 held up for the 10th of 16 spots awarded.

NCAA entries...
Event--Name Mark Rank Prelim/Final
400--Cyrena Bell 56.35 13th Thr./Sat.
800--Rachel Ross 2:08.05 4th Fri.,/Sat.
1500--Rachel Ross 4:30.71 4th Thr./Sat.
3000--Jamie Witt 10:06.21 10th Thr./Fri.
400 Hurdles--Karen Summers 1:01.1 8th Thr./Sat.
1600 Relay--Summers, Bell, Ross, Sarah Kraybill 3:47.53 11th Fri./Sat.
Pole vault--Ally Studer 12-2 4th-tie Fri.
Javelin--Stephanie Huffman 151-4 3rd Sat.
Heptathlon--Stephanie Huffman 4935 6th Thr.-Fri.

And don't forget the mo...
The Falcons are riding a crest of momentum into nationals, having won their second straight Pacific West Conference championship in the first week of May and posting three wins last week, including a season-best time by the relay and a PR from Bell at the Foreman Invitational. For Bell it was her third PR in her last five races. Ross, meanwhile, won her sixth consecutive 1500 and finished the regular season unbeaten versus collegiate competition in both the 800 and 1500.

About the competition...
Ross will be racing against runners who are comparatively fresh. None of the three ranked ahead of her in the 800 or 1500 are doubling, let alone tripling in a relay. But Ross has produced some quality times while doubling‹including a 2:10 800 and 4:30 1500 at Stanford‹and she always rises to the competition. Huffman has 5300-point potential in the heptathlon, where the key events are jumps and sprints/hurdles. If she manages to stay in contention through five events, her javelin could pull her to the top. Huffman's best throw trails the favorite by some 8 feet, but if there is a crapshoot event it's the open javelin, where one throw takes all. Studer's consistency (11-5 or higher in six of the last seven meets) gives her an opportunity should the 13-foot frontrunner falter.

History repeats itself...
This qualifying contingent resembles those of years past. The women's strengths have traditionally been the heptathlon (four champions, 19 All-America), middle-distance (one winner, 15 All-America) and javelin (two champs, 17 All-America). In fact, SPU has produced a scorer (top eight) in the heptathlon each of the last four years, including second-place finishes by Huffman in 1999 and Laura Widman (Jr., Colfax, Wa.) in 2000. Widman claimed a medical hardship after mononucleosis weakened her this winter. Another returning All-America, hurdler Jennifer Pyeatt (So., Graham, Wa.Bethel), has missed the entire season to rest a back injury.

The week that was...
Last week's Foreman Invitational featured mild weather, some strong competition and 450 athletes trying to take advantage by improving their season-best marks. That was certainly true of the Falcons, who got eight of the latter. In addition to the 1600 relay and Bell improving their provisional times, Kraybill ran her best collegiate 800 (2:13.89), barely missing the eventual cutoff for NCAA qualifiers. The men's team produced two efforts which now rank among the school's all-time top five. Paul Mach (Fr., Seattle, Wa./King's) sliced nearly a half-second off his PR in the 400 hurdles (54.69), to a No. 3 all-time school ranking. Kelsey Backen (Jr., Yakima, Wa./East Valley) trimmed his PR to 3:56.01 in the 1500, where he now ranks No. 4.

Fractions...
Summers is the recipient of the Northwest Women's Sports Foundatin postgraduate scholarship and is a finalist for an NCAA postgraduate scholarship...The Falcons will need around 25 points to break the top 10, a feat they haven't managed since rising to fifth in 1993. Last season SPU was 24th with 11 points...This is the third time in five years that the national meet has been situated in Edwardsville. Saint Augustine's (N.C.) snapped Abilene Christian's two-year run as NCAA champion last year in Raleigh...Ross and Huffman are the first Falcons to double in events since Susie Keller in 1997. Ross is the first runner to do so since Charlotte Jensen in 1992...Besides Kraybill, Seattle Pacific's other near-misses for qualifying were Abby Harris (Sr., Auburn, Wa./Auburn) and Huffman in the high jump (both cleared 5-5 3/4 and the cutoff was 5-6), and Natalie Dorow (Jr., Billings, Mt./Billings West) in the triple jump (she went 38-2 and the cutoff was 38-9). Witt was eligible to qualify in the 5000 but the choice was made not to have her double coming off of an injury. She will be running her first 3k since Mar. 24...This will be Huffman's second NCAA event of 2000-01. She played for the volleyball team which made the Pacific Regional last fall. Huffman, the PacWest champion in the javelin and long jump, was limited to hurdles and high jump last week.

NCAA participants' season-best marks...

Women
Yr Hometown (High School) Event/Best '01 Marks (bold indicates PR)
Cyrena Bell Sr Kent, Wa. (Christian Faith) 100/12.6 200/25.19 400/56.35
Stephanie Huffman Jr Brush Prairie, Wa. (Prairie) 200/26.81 800/2:33.33 100H/15.00 Hj/5-1 3/4 Lj/17-11 1/4 Sp/32-3 1/2 Jt/151-4 Hep/4935
Sarah Kraybill So Seattle, Wa. (Ballard) 400/59.19 800/2:13.89
Rachel Ross Jr Kennewick, Wa. (Kennewick) 400/ 800/2:08.05 1500/4:30.71
Ally Studer Fr Redmond, Wa. (Redmond) Pv/12-2
Karen Summers Sr Bremerton, Wa. (Seattle Christian) 200/25.67 100H/15.00 400H/1:01.1
Jamie Witt Fr Folsom, Ca. (Folsom) 3000/10:06.21 5000/17:29.62