A look to the future. Who knows what lies ahead in the days to come, let alone four weeks from now, but the track & field teams of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference should get a glimpse of the future Saturday (Apr. 6) at the Ralph Vernacchia Team Classic scored meet in Bellingham. Seattle Pacific University will defend its women's title against a field which will include men's and women's squads from fellow GNAC members Western Washington, Central Washington, Seattle University and Saint Martin's, plus traditional rivals Pacific Lutheran and Simon Fraser. The Falcons then travel across the state to Cheney and the Pelluer Invitational Apr. 12.

GNAC mini preview. About a month from now, May 4, the GNAC Championships will be held in Bellingham and this week's meet should give the Falcons an opportunity to familiarize themselves with both the facility and the competition. The only absentees from among the conference ranks this week will be Western Oregon and Northwest Nazarene. SPU has won the last two women's league titles and has prevailed at the Vernacchia each of the last two years. In 2001, Seattle Pacific scored 133 points to runner-up and host Western's 78 while the Vikings claimed the men's meet with SPU scoring 42 points.

Individually speaking. A year ago Seattle Pacific won 10 of the women's events at the Vernacchia and, individually, five of those athletes will be back to defend their titles. Going into the meet, Falcons rank No. 1 on the GNAC performance list in nine events and second in six. Among the reasons for the women's dominance is the cast of multiple-event standouts, led this season by Stephanie Huffman (Sr., Brush Prairie, Wa./Prairie). She leads the conference in the 100 hurdles, triple jump and heptathlon and is No. 2 in the long jump. At last week's Spring Break Open, Huffman won the hurdles in a personal-best time of 14.82 seconds and, in her first competitive triple jump, took first on a mark of 36 feet, 5 3/4 inches, ranking her No. 6 all-time at SPU. She is already an NCAA Division II provisional qualifier in the heptathlon (4933 points) and javelin (138-8). Huffman won the 2001 Vernacchia long jump and javelin titles.

And Studer makes 8. For a lot of the athletes, and the runners in particular, last week's meet provided an opportunity to enter some different events. Yet for the field performers, it was pretty much all business and pole vaulter Ally Studer (So., Redmond, Wa./Redmond) got the job done. Studer became the team's eighth provisional qualifier by clearing 11 feet, 4 1/2 inches to both take first and set a new meet record. She owns the school record of 12-2 and finished fifth nationally as a freshman. In all, Seattle Pacific won seven women's events and one men's. Both the men's (7:51.01) and women's (9:33.73) 4 x 800 relays established meet records.

Top marks. Despite some blustery conditions, there were some solid performances at Edmonds, including eight PRs. Most notable was a pole vault of 9-8 by Amber Rose (So., Olympia, Wa./Capital), putting her at No. 4 all-time. Other victories came from Sarah Kraybill (Jr., Seattle, Wa./Ballard) in the 400­a GNAC-best time of 57.69­and the women's 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays. In the 4 x 800 relays there were exceptional anchor legs run by Nathanael Castle (Sr., Gooding, Id./Gooding) for the men (1:54 split) and Rachel Ross (Sr., Kennewick, Wa./Kennewick) for the women (2:12).

Fractions. In addition to Huffman, others defending meet titles this week are Studer, shot putter Dionna Anderson (Sr., Lynnwood, Wa./Edmonds-Woodway), discus thrower Lauren Kooy (So., George, Wa./Quincy) and both women's relays...Currently leading the GNAC women are Kraybill (400), Ross (800), Huffman (100H, heptathlon and triple jump), Anderson (shot), Studer (pole vault) and Jawea Harder (Sr., Port Townsend, Wa.) in the 400 hurdles. Paul Mach (So., Seattle, Wa./King's) is No. 1 in the men's 400 hurdles...As expected, Ross took a break from the 800 and 1500 and ran two relays plus her first open 400, finishing second to Kraybill in 58.26. She's expected to resume the 800 and 1500 this week...Anderson threw the shot over 44 feet for the second week in a row, taking second at 44-2...Jennifer Pyeatt (So., Graham, Wa./Bethel), still working on regaining her strength and stamina after missing last season, ran a 15.70 in the hurdles to finish fourth...In the men's sprints, there were new PRs by Brian Hunter (Fr., Duvall, Wa./Cedarcrest) in the 100 (11.14) and Neal Fryett (Sr., Pullman, Wa./Logos) in the 400 (52.27). Hunter's third-place was the best finish by an individual male. The 4 x 400 relay of Micah Kellcy (Fr., Lakewood, Wa./Clover Park), Mach, Fryett and Castle ran second to Washington in a season-best 3:25.41, a time which is also No. 3 in the GNAC...Huffman, experiencing tendonitis in her right arm, did not throw the shot or javelin last week and is unlikely to do so this week.