It's showtime. With its largest contingent of qualifiers in 13 years, the Seattle Pacific University women's track & field team travels to Texas in search of a top-five finish at the NCAA Division II Championships in San Angelo beginning next Thursday (May 23-25). Meanwhile, the Falcon men will send a qualifier to nationals for the first time since 1998. Altogether, SPU has eight women accounting for 10 entries while the men have one entry.

Top contenders. Seattle Pacific features an experienced women's travel squad with five of their individual entries ranked among the top five qualifiers. Dionna Anderson (Sr., Lynnwood, Wa./Edmonds-Woodway/Edmonds CC) has come on particularly strong this spring. Since taking eighth at the NCAA indoor, Anderson, the No. 4 qualifier, has added over two feet to her personal record (47-4 1/2) and won six of her last seven meets. Stephanie Huffman (Sr., Brush Prairie, Wa./Prairie) owns the No. 4 qualifying mark in both the javelin (148-4) and heptathlon (5005). Huffman is a two-time All-America in the heptathlon, finishing as high as second in 1999, and was third in the javelin a year ago. Laura Widman (Jr., Colfax, Wa./Colfax) has come on strong in the past month to not only become the No. 5 qualifier in the heptathlon (5004) but also make the long jump field (19-0 3/4). Widman was seventh in the heptathlon as a freshman and runner-up in 2000 before missing last season due to illness. First-time national qualifier Jawea Harder (Sr., Port Townsend, Wa.) ranks No. 4 in the 400 hurdles (61.24) and is one of five seniors.

Rising to occasion. The Falcons' sole male qualifier sealed his fate in the final meet of the season. Nathanael Castle (Sr., Gooding, Id./Gooding) ran the 1500-meter race of his life, lopping nearly 3 seconds off his PR to 3:50.44. It matched the No. 2 time in school history and earned him Great Northwest Athletic Conference athlete of the week. In all there were four times from the Ken Foreman Invitational which rate among the school's top five. Not since decathlete Kyle Gough in 1998 had the men sent a qualifier to nationals. Last fall Castle became the first male to represent SPU at cross country nationals.

Hep, hep, hooray. The heptathlon accounts for three of Coach Jack Hoyt's female qualifiers and that event could generate 10-18 points at the NCAAs. Huffman and Widman each have the potential to score over 5200 points, putting them in title contention. Leah Wiiest (Sr., Spokane, Wa./Deer Park) is the third qualifier and a true Cinderella story, having only begun to compete in track & field last December. Wiiest, who originally came to SPU to play volleyball, is the No. 8 qualifier (4774). Widman missed several March meets with a strained hamstring but then made rapid progress over the final four weeks of the regular season, adding more than 600 points to her heptathlon score. A staple event for Seattle Pacific for over 20 years, the heptathlon has produced four national champions and 20 All-America for the program.

More scoring threats. In this, her fourth NCAA meet, Rachel Ross (Sr., Kennewick, Wa./Kennewick) is opting not to double but rather concentrate on her favorite race, the 800. Ross has won five of her six races this season and was clocked in a season-best 2:09.36 last week. She finished fifth at nationals in 2001 and sixth in 1999. Sarah Kraybill (Jr., Seattle, Wa./Ballard) is the other SPU metric half-miler. Kraybill won the GNAC title and PR'd in each of her final three outings, the last at 2:10.46. She is bidding to make final after being eliminated in prelims last year. Ally Studer (So., Redmond, Wa./Redmond) earned a trip to nationals for the second year in a row after clearing 11 feet, 9 3/4 inches in the Foreman pole vault. Studer took fifth place as a freshman and is 13th among qualifiers.

A couple near-misses. Of course, not everyone made the NCAA cut. Paul Mach (So., Seattle, Wa./King's) galloped the 400 hurdles in 53.48 seconds to get under the provisional standard last week. While it was the No. 2 mark all-time, it wound up 0.07 seconds short of making the final qualifiers. Huffman was stopped short of a third entry, missing the long jump cut by 1 1/4 inches. The Falcons' other provisional qualifier, Jennifer Pyeatt (So., Graham, Wa./Bethel), was well off the pace in the 400 hurdles.

Foreman recap. Following a chilly and often arduous string of outdoor meets, the Foreman Invitational provided near-perfect conditions and a bounty of great performances by the Falcons. With sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-60s, there was a total of 21 (16 women, five men) season-best marks, including 11 PRs. Ross, Anderson and Widman each won events and the men recorded a total of four times which made the all-time top five. In addition to Castle and Mach, Tim LeCount (Fr., Battle Ground, Wa./Battle Ground) won his heat of the 1500 in 3:55.72 to rank No. 5. Castle, Mach, Neal Fryett (Sr., Pullman, Wa./Logos) and Micah Kellcy (Fr., Lakewood, Wa./Clover Park) ran the No. 5 4 x 400 relay in 3:20.94. Breaking into the women's top five at No. 3 was pole vaulter Amber Rose (So., Olympia, Wa./Capital), who cleared 10-4.

Hot times in Texas. Counting the seven events of the heptathlon, both Huffman and Widman will be involved in eight competitions over the three-day meet, and Huffman will be subjected to the broiling midday sun all the while because both the heptathlon and javelin are among the few daytime events. Long-range forecasts call for temperatures in the low 90s. All races, which feature prelim rounds on Thursday and Friday followed by Saturday finals, are scheduled for the relatively cooler evening hours.

Coming on strong. For sure, Seattle Pacific has suffered its share of setbacks this spring but the Falcons' fortunes definitely seem to be on the upswing as the NCAAs approach. Huffman, Widman and Ross were slowed by varying degrees due to injuries. Anderson, Castle, Kraybill, Harder and Wiiest experienced steady improvement in their respective crafts while Studer needed a late breakthrough...For Widman, who seemed on the verge of winning an NCAA title two years ago, it's been a long road back. She missed the 2001 season due to mononucleosis and then was sidelined for the winter and the first two outdoor meets with a strained hamstring. As recently as Mar. 20 she was unable to finish a heptathlon. Since Apr. 19 her score improved by 665 points and her long jump by 2 feet, 6 inches. At the Foreman Invitational heptathlon she hit season-best marks in all seven events, including the conference's top long jump measurement of the season...Huffman, an early qualifier in the javelin and heptathlon, was held out of the javelin for three weeks in midseason to rest an sore right arm. She came back in late April to win three events at the GNAC Championships, including the heptathlon and javelin, the latter with a season-best throw of 148-4...Ross missed much of the fall cross country campaign and was bothered by a strained calf muscle outdoors. Nevertheless she won eight of her 13 middle-distance races, including a season-best 800 last week...Anderson gave an early indication of her promise with a indoor throw of 45-3 3/4. She put over 44 feet in six of her last nine outdoor meets, finishing with a PR at the Foreman...Castle made the provisional list Apr. 6, but then accelerated with three new PRs in the final three meets. He won both the GNAC 800 and 1500, two of his six middle-distance victories...Kraybill didn't break 2:14 until Apr. 20 yet since then she has surged, trimming 3.4 seconds off her time by last week's Foreman meet. She is the only 800 runner to defeat Ross during the season, doing so at the conference meet...Harder, plagued by injuries throughout her first three seasons, has consistently run under 63 seconds since mid-March. Her breakthrough and PR of 61.24 came Apr. 20 and she won the conference title two weeks later...Wiiest, an all-region volleyball player last fall and a stranger to track, was invited to a tryout by Hoyt in December. She made the provisional list in her first heptathlon Mar. 22 and has since added 174 points with improvement across the board...Studer, the school record-holder at 12-2, cleared at least 11-4 four times, but despite her improved consistency it was not until last week that she hit 11-9 3/4.

Fractions. The travel party, which includes assistant coaches Doris Heritage and Algerian Hart, departs for San Angelo Tuesday...Saint Augustine's (NC) is the defending men's and women's team champion...This marks the fourth time that San Angelo has hosted the NCAA meet and the first since 1993. In 1992 at San Angelo, the Falcons won four individual titles (Mike Olson, shot put; Karin Grelsson, triple jump and heptathlon; Tiffany Colman, javelin) and the women were fourth overall with 58 points...Anderson is the first female shot thrower to go to the national meet since Lorna Griffin in 1978...Castle becomes the school's fourth male 1500 qualifier and first since Jon Swanson placed eighth in 1995.