Eastbound bus. A promise of decent weather and solid competition lures the Seattle Pacific University's track & field teams east of the Cascades for a rare Friday (Apr. 11) twilight meet, the 32nd annual Pelluer Invitational in Cheney, Wa. The Falcons will be the sole Great Northwest Athletic Conference squad in the mix, which will include Division I teams Washington State, Montana and host Eastern Washington. Next week provides an chance to preview the GNAC championship site with the Spike Arlt meet in Ellensburg.

Status report. At the halfway point to the spring season, Seattle Pacific is in good shape, despite its share of injuries and inclement weather. The Falcons' picked up their sixth female provisional qualifier last week to go with one male. As the weather warms and muscles loosen-up, Coach Jack Hoyt is confident that performance marks will improve. Following a blustery day at last week's Vernacchia Team Classic in Bellingham, the Friday forecast for Cheney is temperatures near 60 and little chance of rain.

An army of one. The difference between the Falcons winning their fourth straight Vernacchia women's crown and taking fifth was Danielle Ayers-Stamper (Fr., LaCrosse, Wa.). By winning three events and scoring in two others, Ayers-Stamper accounted for 43 points as SPU edged Western Washington 111.5-93.5. She was named the outstanding female athlete of the meet and GNAC co-athlete of the week for winning the long jump (17 feet, 7 1z2 inches) and the 100-meter hurdles (15.02 seconds) and sharing first in the high jump (5-3). Ayers-Stamper was also runner-up in the shot put with a personal-best heave of 37-6 3/4 and third in the javelin (121-10).

But wait, there's more. Far from being a one-woman team, the Falcons notched wins in five other events. Sarah Kraybill (Sr., Seattle, Wa./Ballard) earned a rare double by finishing first in both the 1500 (4:49.3) and 400 dash (58.40). She now has a pair of wins at both distances. Ally Studer (Jr., Redmond, Wa./Redmond) cleared 11-11 1z2 in the pole vault to break her own meet record. Jennifer Pyeatt (Jr., Graham, Wa./Bethel) made her outdoor debut by winning the shot put (39-4 1/4) and Jamie Witt (So., Folsom, Ca.) picked up her second win in the 5000 this season, pulling away on the final two laps to finish in 17:57.87. Linda Blake (Fr., Richland, Wa.) also cleared 5-3 to tie Ayers-Stamper for first in the high jump. Allie Hedges (Fr., Richland, Wa.) was in the middle of an SPU 1-2-3 sweep in the pole vault and became the latest NCAA Division II provisional qualifier with a personal-record clearance of 11-7 3/4, taking second.

Kellcy tops man show. The men's team found themselves without three of their top athletes and consequently took a distant fifth in the Vernacchia standings. Western won for the sixth year in a row. Micah Kellcy (Sr., Lakewood, Wa./Clover Park) was the top performer, placing second in the 400 hurdles (56.24) and third in the open 400 (50.94). No one else finished among the top three. The Falcons were without hurdler Paul Mach (Jr., Seattle, Wa./King's), who withdrew following the sprint relay with a sore hip; Scott Van Hess (Sr., Salem, Or./McKay), who was leading the 800 before pulling-out with a knee pain; and decathlete Chris Randolph (Fr., Lone Tree, Co./Denver Christian), who sat out with an ankle sprain. All are expected back this week.

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.