All for one. Five, four, three or two events-whatever it takes, track & field athletes at Seattle Pacific University aim to earn as many points as possible Saturday (May 3) at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships in Ellensburg. For the Falcon women, a fourth straight league title hangs in the balance while the men seek to improve upon a sixth-place finish a year ago. Nine of the 10 GNAC teams will send representatives to the meet, which is also the next-to-last chance to post qualifying marks for next month's NCAA Division II Championships. Next week SPU hosts the Ken Foreman Invitational.

It'll be close. Although the women have never failed to claim a conference crown, the distance between the Falcons and their rivals is dwindling. The gap between Seattle Pacific and a much larger Western Oregon squad went from 116 points in 2001 to 31.5 last season. SPU begins this week with a 20-9 lead over both the Wolves and Western Washington, thanks to 1-2 finish in last week's conference heptathlon. Coach Jack Hoyt is carefully plotting his entries, assuming that the GNAC title may be decided on the final relay. As in the past, Hoyt plans to counter Western Oregon's size by deploying his multiple-event performers in as many as five events.

And some frosh shall lead them. It's possible that well over half of the women's points will be harvested by the freshman class. Danielle Ayers-Stamper (Fr., LaCrosse, Wa.) and Laura Blake (Fr., Richland, Wa.) have accounted for 18 already, having taken first and second place in the heptathlon, and before nightfall Saturday, Ayers-Stamper could see her individual count climb past 40 points. The winner of the heptathlon with a meet-record and personal-best score of 5024 points, she also owns the GNAC top qualifying marks in the 100-meter hurdles and long jump, and is a top contender in the high jump and javelin as well. Blake and Dianna Grossglass (Fr., LaConner, Wa.), the frontrunner in the high jump, are each capable of scoring 14-20 points.

Going for the gold. The Falcons have their fair share of favorites and title contenders, for both the men and women. Paul Mach (Jr., Seattle, Wa./King's) is gunning for his third straight 400 hurdles crown, with an eye on also improving his provisional qualifying time. Sarah Kraybill (Sr., Seattle, Wa./Ballard), who has made a habit of breaking the proverbial tape (eight wins and never lower than third place in 12 races) this spring, will defend her GNAC 800 title and, in an interesting triple, is running the 400 and 1500 too. Kelsey Gleason (Fr., Salem, Or./Salem Academy), Ally Studer (Jr., Redmond, Wa./Redmond) and Jennifer Pyeatt (Jr., Graham, Wa./Bethel) own the conference's No. 1 entry marks in the women's 400 hurdles, pole vault and shot put, respectively. Studer and Pyeatt each have three wins in the past month.

The main events. Those events which could prove pivotal for SPU and Western Oregon in women's team scoring are the 400 hurdles, high jump, long jump, triple jump and shot put. The Wolves are extremely strong in the throws. Hoyt plans to keep his key people quite busy. Ayers-Stamper is in five events, Blake four with Kraybill and Laura Widman (Sr., Colfax, Wa.) in three each. Chris Randolph (Fr., Lone Tree, Co./Denver Christian), who finished strong to take second place in the GNAC decathlon, is entered in three events plus a relay.

While in Oregon. Apart from the weather, the three days spent in blustery Oregon was productive last week. Ayers-Stamper broke former Falcon Stephanie Huffman's meet record in the heptathlon, winning five of the seven events and earning PRs in three to net the No. 2 score in Div. II this season. She also made the NCAA provisional list in the javelin with a throw of 134-2. Randolph rallied to uncork a 43-foot PR to win the javelin and also was first in the 1500 to score 6242 points. In Eugene, Kraybill's five- race win streak was snapped but she ran the No. 2 qualifying time in the division and No. 5 in school history (2:09.19) to take second at the Oregon Invitational. Earlier in that meet, Josie Lavin (So., Bremerton, Wa./Bremerton) and Jamie Witt (So., Folsom, Ca.) became the ninth and 10th provisionals. Lavin ran the team's top 1500 of the season (a PR of 4:38.67) to take sixth and Witt was runner-up in the 5000 (17:45.53). Gleason ran a GNAC-best 400 hurdles (1:04.84).

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.