See the (near) future. In between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, the Seattle Pacific University's track & field teams get a good look at the facility to be used for next month's Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships. Saturday (Apr. 19) the Falcons will join Saint Martin's, Western Oregon, Western Washington, Seattle University and host Central Washington for the unofficial GNAC preview meet, the Spike Arlt Invitational in Ellensburg. Next week, the conference multi-event championships will be held at Western Oregon Apr. 24-25 and a select group of athletes venture south to the Oregon Invitational for the final week of conference qualifying.

Kicking into gear. All along, Coach Jack Hoyt has counted upon a few key people finding their true form in the latter half of the season, and it's beginning to ring true. Although the string of weeks with NCAA qualifying marks was snapped at four last week, the Falcons already have seven total with several on the verge and some notable individuals nearing 100 percent fitness. Jennifer Pyeatt (Jr., Graham, Wa./Bethel), bouncing back from hamstring strains, has gone to the top of the GNAC performance list in the shot put (42-1 1/4) in just two meets and multi-event star Laura Widman (Sr., Colfax, Wa.) is coming off season-best marks in the high jump (5-3) and 800 meters (2:28.88).

Sarah, straight and tall. Whether it's a long sprint or a metric mile, it's tough to beat Sarah Kraybill (Sr., Seattle, Wa./Ballard). Just ask around. Kraybill has won seven of 10 races this spring, including a pair of wins in each of her last two meets, and has finished no lower than third place outdoors. She's the defending Arlt Invitational 800 champ and ranks No. 4 among NCAA qualifiers in that event. Last week at the Pelluer Invitational, Kraybill beat some Div. I runners from the Big Sky Conference while taking first in both the 800 (2;16.94) and 1500 (4:39.71). Seattle Pacific's other victory came from Dianna Grossglass (Fr., LaConner, Wa.) with a personal-best clearance of 5-5 in the high jump. Grossglass edged teammate Danielle Ayers-Stamper (Fr., LaCrosse, Wa.) by virtue of fewer misses. Ayers-Stamper was also runner-up in the 100 hurdles (14.75) and achieved a PR in the shot (38-11 1/2).

Gentlemen start their engines. The men's team took an eraser to their record book last week following the 1600 relay's strong performance at the Pelluer meet. The foursome of Micah Kellcy (Sr., Lakewood, Wa./Clover Park), Scott Van Hess (Sr., Salem, Or./McKay), Chris Randolph (Fr., Lone Tree, Co./Denver Christian) and Paul Mach (Jr., Seattle, Wa./King's) took second place but in a fine time of 3:20.89, which is now fifth-best all-time at SPU and No. 2 in the conference this spring. Incidentally, the school record of 3:19.73 was set on the same oval three years earlier. Kellcy was third in the 400 hurdles (55.38) while Mach, a provisional NCAA qualifier and ranked No. 1 in the GNAC, did not hurdle for the second week in a row to avoid aggravating an injury.

Hot commodity. There was no shortage of silver for Falcons last week as they brought home a total of six second-places. Besides the aforementioned finishes, Jean Kolb (Fr., Eugene, Or./South Eugene) was second in the 200 dash (26.92)-equaling her best placement of the season-Ally Studer (Jr., Redmond, Wa./Redmond) was No. 2 (11-3 1z4) in the pole vault and the women's long relay was runner-up (4:01.14) as well.

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.