Friday twilight meet. Normally, a trip east of the mountains would translate into warmer weather for a springtime track & field meet but there are no such guarantees this week as Seattle Pacific University sends its men's and women's squads to the 31st annual Pelluer Invitational in Cheney, Wash., Friday afternoon and evening (Apr. 12). Continuing the trend of cold, wet conditions so far this season, the forecast calls for a chance of mixed rain and snow in that area. A small band of athletes will also compete at the Northwest relays in Edmonds Saturday (Apr. 13). Next week there will be a key heptathlon in Azusa, Calif., while the rest of the team travels to Ellensburg for the Spike Arlt Invitational.

As close as he gets. For a guy who hails from the southern reaches of Idaho, the Pelluer Invitational will be about as close as he gets to a ³home² meet during his final season. Still more than 300 miles from his hometown, Nathanael Castle (Sr., Gooding, Id./Gooding) will be running with his goal being to reach Texas by late May. Figuratively speaking, Castle is more than halfway there after a breakthrough 1500 meters at the Vernacchia Team Classic last weekend in Bellingham. His winning time of 3 minutes, 53.78 seconds was a personal-best by more than 2 seconds and No. 4 all-time for the Falcons. But more importantly it put him securely on the NCAA Division II provisional qualifying list at No. 9 in the nation. Castle, who was selected as co-athlete of the week in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, is trying to end the men's three-year dry spell of producing a national qualifier. The NCAA Championships are May 23-25 in San Angelo, Tex.

Doubling her pleasure. There was more than one stellar metric mile run last week. Just prior to Castle's race came another victory by Rachel Ross (Sr., Kennewick, Wa./Kennewick), who did so with the nation's No. 2 time in a 1500 this season, 4:33.81. Although it was well off her PR, it was a performance pulled off despite miserable weather, very little push from the rest of the pack (she won by nearly 7 seconds) and having been pressed hard in her earlier win over 800 meters (2:12.85). The GNAC athlete of the week for the third time this season, Ross remains unbeaten (3-0) in 800s this season and now owns 29 career middle-distance titles. She has won 11 straight 800 and 1500 races in the Northwest, dating back to the start of the 2001 season, including a pair of victories at last year's Pelluer Invitational.

Shifting gears. In preparation for next week's heptathlon, another Eastern Washington native, Laura Widman (Jr., Colfax, Wa./Colfax), will try to stretch out her legs. Widman has been slowed by a tight hamstring thus far, but is concentrating on being in NCAA-qualifying form by the end of this month. She has been using conservative methods in her sprints and jumps to date. This weekend Widman hopes to run aggressively at the 100 hurdles. Meanwhile, Stephanie Huffman (Sr., Brush Prairie, Wa./Prairie) is likely to continue resting her right arm by avoiding throws of the javelin and shot. Huffman, already a provisional qualifier in both the heptathlon and javelin, has not thrown the spear since Mar. 23.

Winners once again. Paced by Ross and thanks to a competitive performance by a makeshift 4 x 400 relay team, the Falcon women held on to defeat Western Washington 101-99 for their third consecutive Vernacchia meet title. Ross was voted the female athlete of the eight-team meet. The Vikings prevailed in the men's scoring (108) with SPU fifth (33). Another outstanding time came from Paul Mach (So., Seattle, Wa./King's), who won the 400 hurdles in 54.11. It was the No. 2 time in school history. Defending her meet title in the shot put was Dionna Anderson (Sr., Lynnwood, Wa./Edmonds-Woodway), who won with a heave of 43 feet, 2 1/4 inches. Jennifer Pyeatt (So., Graham, Wa./Bethel) was runner-up at 39-0 1/2. Pyeatt and Huffman each competed in four events. Huffman finished second to Ross in points, taking second place in the long jump (17-11 1/2), the 100 hurdles (15.73) and third in the high jump (5-1). Seattle Pacific's three other second-place finishes came from Ruth Hawkinson (Jr., Roy, Wa./Yelm) in the 5000 (18:36.8), Jawea Harder (Sr., Port Townsend, Wa.) in the 400 hurdles (1:03.75) and Ally Studer (So., Redmond, Wa./Redmond) in the pole vault (10-2). The women got strong 4 x 400 relay legs from Josie Lavin (Fr., Bremerton, Wa./Bremerton) and Sarah Kraybill (Jr., Seattle, Wa./Ballard) to finish third and prevent Western from overtaking the Falcons in the meet's final event.

Fractions. A men's distance medley relay of Mach, Castle, Tim LeCount (Fr., Battle Ground, Wa.) and Neal Fryett (Sr., Pullman, Wa./Logos) will be the featured entry at Edmonds...Studer, like Ross, will be defending her meet title this week...Castle's 1500 moved him to the top of the GNAC performance list. He also took fourth in the 800 (1:56.13) last week...Other conference leaders are Mach for the men and Kraybill (400), Ross (800), Huffman (100H, heptathlon and triple jump), Anderson (shot) and Jawea Harder (Sr., Port Townsend, Wa.) in the 400 hurdles for the women.