Last chance. Getting to nationals is often more than half the battle and whether a few more Seattle Pacific University athletes make it to the NCAA Division II Track & Field Championships will depend upon their performance at this week's final qualifying meet, the Ken Foreman Invitational. Over 400 participants from colleges and clubs throughout the Northwest are expected to take part in the Falcons' only home meet, which begins Friday (May 10) with a heptathlon. All other events take place Saturday (May 11) at Husky Stadium.

On the edge. Seattle Pacific currently has 11 provisional NCAA qualifiers for women and one man. Still, only about half of those are reasonably assured of a place in the national meet May 23-25 in San Angelo, Tex. The Foreman Invitational affords the others one last chance to either post a qualifying mark or improve upon a previous one. The NCAA will make cuts and extend invitations to the chosen qualifiers by May 15.

Ones to watch. Coach Jack Hoyt will be paying particular attention to a handful of events, namely the women's 800-meter run, 400 hurdles, pole vault and heptathlon and the men's 1500 and 400 hurdles, with eight athletes currently on the qualifying cusp across those events. In the heptathlon, Laura Widman (Jr., Colfax, Wa./Colfax) and Leah Wiiest (Sr., Spokane, Wa./Deer Park) will be trying improve their qualifying scores beyond 4750 points or so. That two-day, seven-event competition wraps-up Saturday evening. Rachel Ross (Sr., Kennewick, Wa./Kennewick) and Sarah Kraybill (Jr., Seattle, Wa./Ballard) are both on the bubble in the 800, needing to break 2 minutes, 12.00 seconds to solidify their chances. Nathanael Castle (Sr., Gooding, Id./Gooding), bidding to become the first SPU men's qualifier since 1998, probably needs a 1500 clocking of 3:51.50 to rest assured. Jennifer Pyeatt (So., Graham, Wa./Bethel) must aim for a time of 1:02.50 in the 400 hurdles while in the men's race Paul Mach (So., Seattle, Wa./King's) will likely qualify by making the provisional cutoff of 53.40. A clearance of 11-9 or higher in the pole vault should send Ally Studer (So., Redmond, Wa./Redmond) to nationals for the second year in a row.

Safe and sound. There are four Falcons who can begin packing their bags for Texas. Stephanie Huffman (Sr., Brush Prairie, Wa./Prairie) is the No. 3 qualifier in the javelin (148-4), No. 4 in the heptathlon (5005), and is likely to make the cut in the long jump (18-11 1/4). Jawea Harder (Sr., Port Townsend, Wa.) is a solid No. 4 in the 400 hurdles (1:01.24) and Dionna Anderson (Sr., Lynnwood, Wa./Edmonds-Woodway/Edmonds CC) ranks fifth nationally in the shot put (46-6 1/4). Ross enters the week at No. 8 in the 1500 (4:32.08). In 2001, when SPU finished tied for ninth in the NCAA, it had nine entries at nationals. Most event fields will have a minimum of 16 people.

We are the champions. If last week's Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships are any indication, Seattle Pacific should do well this weekend. The Falcons, behind a great all-around performance by Huffman, not only won their third straight women's team title but won eight events, took nine silver medals and eight bronze to defeat Western Oregon by a margin of 32.5 points, 226-194.5. Huffman was voted the GNAC athlete of the meet for the second year in a row after successfully defending her titles in the long jump (18-1) and javelin (148-4), to go along with her heptathlon victory a week ago. Altogether, she totaled 50 points over six events. Huffman was also second in the high jump (5-4 1/2) and triple jump (36-7) and fifth in the 100 hurdles (15.59). The men's team, led by Castle's pair of middle-distance wins and second straight hurdles title by Mach, took sixth with 60 points. Western Oregon won handily with 206.5.

GNAC recap. Anderson captured her fifth shot put win of the season, successfully defending her conference title with a best throw of 41-11 1/2 and leading the Falcons to a 1-2-3 sweep. In becoming SPU's first male double winner, Castle fought off Nathan Carlson of Saint Martin's in the 1500 and came back less than 90 minutes later to win the 800. Castle's 1500 time was 3:54.28 and 1:55.00 in the 800. Neal Fryett (Sr., Pullman, Wa./Logos) was second in the latter in 1:56.47. Mach defended his hurdles crown in 53.77 seconds. Micah Kellcy (Jr., Lakewood, Wa./Clover Park) was fourth in 57.85. Kellcy, Mach, Castle and Fryett comprised the 1600 relay which was runner-up to Western Oregon in 3:23.00. Harder comfortably cruised to first in the women's 400 hurdles in 62.43 seconds. She also ran a leg of the 1600 relay which won in 3:56.37. Seattle Pacific got a surprising win from Kraybill in the 800. She parlayed a strong kick to come from behind and snap Ross's four-meet win streak. Kraybill went ahead with 200 meters to go and finished in a personal-best time of 2:12.92 seconds with Ross crossing in 2:13.65. Ross, who had won the 800 and 1500 conference titles the past two years, also was overtaken by Alicen Maier of Central Washington in the 1500. Maier was clocked in 4:31.84 and Ross in a season-best 4:32.08. Widman and Pyeatt continued their comebacks. Pyeatt was runner-up in the 100 hurdles (15.26) and shot put (40-8 1/4) and third in the 400 hurdles (1:07.00). Widman was third in both the long jump (17-8 1/2) and shot put (39-10 3/4). Other silver medallists were Studer in the pole vault (11-5 3/4) and Kara Richard (Fr., Springbrook, NY/Iroquois) in the steeplechase (11:34.2). Also finishing among the top three and thereby earning all-conference were Harder in the 100 (12.3), Lindsey Stewart (Jr., Shoreline, Wa./King's) in the 400 (59.26), Josie Lavin (Fr., Bremerton, Wa./Bremerton) in the 1500 (4:47.36) and Lauren Kooy (So., George, Wa./Quincy) in the discus (125-6).

Fractions. Admission to the Ken Foreman Invitational is free...For the first time there were no new qualifiers, but improvements on previous provisional marks by Kraybill, Ross (1500) and Huffman (javelin)...Hoyt went home as the GNAC women's coach of the year by a vote of his peers for the third year in a row.