A lot goin' on. Three meets, four days. So much for rest and relaxation during spring break. Members of the Seattle Pacific University track & field teams will be busy this week as they train and compete in Northern California. Following a couple days of training, competition gets underway Wednesday (Mar. 26) with the two-day UC Davis Multi-Event meet (Mar. 26-27). That will be followed by the Stanford Invitational (Mar. 28-29) and the Hornet Invitational Saturday (Mar. 29) before the travel squad returns home to start spring quarter classes. Next week is the Vernacchia Invitational in Bellingham.

Multiple choices. This week provides an opportunity for Coach Jack Hoyt's heptathlon and decathlon hopefuls to knock themselves out while trying to reach a provisional qualifying score. Two-time All-America Laura Widman (Sr., Colfax, Wa.) will be joined by relative multi-event newcomers Danielle Ayers-Stamper (Fr., LaCrosse, Wa.) and Linda Blake (Fr., Richland, Wa.) in the seven-event heptathlon. Meanwhile, Chris Randolph (Fr., Lone Tree, Co./Denver Christian) gets his first taste of a decathlon. Widman is bidding for her fourth NCAA berth, needing 5250 points for the automatic standard and 4400 for the provisional. Ayers-Stamper, the state prep champion two years ago, owns a PR of 4690 while Blake has scored 4067. Randolph, primarily a high-jumper and sprinter in high school, eyes the 6500 cutoff for the provisional.

Splits over the weekend. The aforementioned multi-event types will get the weekend off to recover while the rest of the gang is split between Stanford and Sacramento. Women earning entry into the Stanford Invitational were Sarah Kraybill (Sr., Seattle, Wa./Ballard) in the 800 meters, Jamie Witt (So., Folsom, Ca.) in the 5000 and Ally Studer (Jr., Redmond, Wa./Redmond) in the pole vault. The men will be represented by Tim LeCount (So., Battle Ground, Wa.) in the 1500 and Paul Mach (Jr., Seattle, Wa./King's) in the 400 hurdles. Most of the top clubs and colleges from throughout the West are sending their top athletes to the two-day meet at Stanford.

A first for the Falcons. Kraybill became the Falcons' first outdoor provisional qualifier, running a personal best by more than 11 seconds to finish second in 4 minutes, 40.22 seconds in the 1500 at the Stan Wright Invitational in Sacramento last weekend. Kraybill was resuming outdoor racing after taking fourth in the NCAA Division II indoor 800 a week earlier. She also came back to sprint a solid 400, finishing third in 57.81. Josie Lavin (So., Bremerton, Wa.) was third in the 1500 with a PR of 4:42.37 and ran a Great Northwest Athletic Conference-best of 2:16.20 to get third in the 800. Witt got the lone SPU win in the women's 5000 with a time of 17:57.03-less than 8 seconds off the provisional standard. A long jump of 18 feet, 3 1/2 inches and 100 hurdles time of 14.86 by Ayers-Stamper (each for third place) undoubtedly give her a boost going into this week. Other highlights for Seattle Pacific included a PR of 54.92 by Micah Kellcy (Sr., Lakewood, Wa./Clover Park) in the men's 400 hurdles. At the Oregon Preview in Eugene, Mach posted an excellent early-season time of 53.94 in the 400 hurdles, taking third. Mach and Kraybill were selected as GNAC male and female athletes of the week.

Trans-Atlantic Doris. Assistant coach Doris Heritage will be in Switzerland this week, serving as head coach of the U.S. women for the 2003 IAAF World Cross Country Championships this weekend in Lausanne. A five-time world champion, Heritage is serving her third stint as national team coach for the world championships and her first since 1993.

Missing links. For the latest and best information on Seattle Pacific University athletics, stay where you're at -- on The Falcons Online. For updated standings and statistics, see the Great Northwest Athletic Conference web site.