Small but potent. A relatively small but potent cast of track & field athletes from Seattle Pacific University will arrive in Edwardsville, Ill., this week, seeking to go higher, longer and faster than their peers at the NCAA Division II Championships. The Falcons are sending five women and one male to nationals, making it the smallest female group in seven years and the fewest entries since 1994. However, there are three individuals who rank among the top five qualifiers in their respective event.

Almost favorites. It's been 10 years since an SPU athlete last claimed an NCAA title, but there are signs that the drought will soon end. Danielle Ayers-Stamper (Fr., LaCrosse, Wa.) is the No. 2 qualifier in the heptathlon and possesses seemingly all the tools to grow even stronger in the years to come. Amber Miller of Angelo State is the favorite with a score of 5670. Ayers-Stamper tops a group of nine with scores between 4816-5024. Sarah Kraybill (Sr., Seattle, Wa./Ballard) returns for her third crack at the 800 final. She is the No. 3 qualifier (2:09.19), was undefeated against Div. II competitors and won four of six races overall. Setting the pace for the two-lap race is Findlay's Andrea Morgan (2:04.36). The pole vault is one of those volatile events in which upsets are more likely. Three-time All-America Ally Studer (Jr., Redmond, Wa./Redmond), tied for third (12 feet, 4 inches) among qualifiers, will be in the hunt. Abilene Christian's Val Gorter is the only vaulter to go over 13 feet. The Falcons' last NCAA outdoor champ was Karin Grelsson in the 1993 heptathlon. SPU has a total of 27 individual collegiate champions (20 women, seven men).

Veterans & first-timers. The travel party is a blend of national meet veterans and first-timers. Including indoor meets, this is the fifth NCAA Championship for Kraybill, the fourth for Studer and Laura Widman (Sr., Colfax, Wa.). Kraybill was fourth in the indoor 800 two months ago but is shooting to qualify for her first outdoor final. Studer has finished fifth and seventh vaulting outdoors and fourth this season indoors. Widman was the heptathlon runner-up in 2000 and fifth in 1999. Last year a pulled hamstring knocked her out of the heptathlon with two events remaining. Meanwhile, this will be an all-new experience for intermediate hurdler Paul Mach (Jr., Seattle, Wa./King's), 1500 runner Josie Lavin (So., Bremerton, Wa./Bremerton) and Ayers-Stamper.

Down to the wire. There was no shortage of drama as qualifying and entry selections went down to the wire. Widman and Lavin each rose to the occasion at the Ken Foreman Invitational. Widman, with a tender hamstring and stress fracture in her foot, shed her cast to score 4771 points and make the cut in the heptathlon. Lavin summoned a strong kick over the final 300 meters to win her race and improve her time by nearly 5 seconds, to 4:33.91, before collapsing beyond the finish line. For Mach, the tension lasted three additional days. With a season-best time of 52.91, he was the 19th and final hurdler pulled from the provisional list. A year ago, Mach missed the cut by 0.07 seconds.

Tradition renewed. Coach Jack Hoyt's entries include several bread-and-butter events for the Falcons. For instance, Ayers-Stamper and Widman are the 11th and 12th heptathlon qualifiers in seven years. In the middle distances, there have been six 800 qualifiers in the last five seasons and nine 1500 runners since 1991. The pole vault became an NCAA women's event in 1999 and Studer has gone each of her three seasons. Mach is the first male hurdler to qualify since Mark Stream took eighth in 1975. There have been eight SPU female 400 hurdles qualifiers since 1990.

The racing form. Kraybill, Lavin and Mach must all run a qualifying race to advance to a Saturday final. In meets when she didn't double, Kraybill consistently ran under 2:11 and never finished lower than second place in races of 800 or 1500 meters. Lavin made huge strides of improvement over the course of the season, dropping from 4:52 in March to 4:42 in April and nearly another 10 seconds this month. Mach's progress may have been blunted by injuries in April. He won four of eight races and ran under 53.2 in three of the last four. Studer vaulted 11-9 or higher in five of her last seven meets, finishing first in four. Meet us near St. Louie. Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, located about 20 miles northeast of St. Louis, is acting as host of the Div. II meet for the third time since 1997. Thunderstorms and accompanying rain marred the NCAA meet in 1998. Forecasts this week call for high temperatures in the mid-70s and only a slight chance of thunderstorms Saturday.

Foreman recap. In the final meet of the regular season, the Falcons won five events altogether. Mach won for the fourth time this season, in 53.11. Chris Randolph (Fr., Lone Tree, Co./Denver Christian) won the decathlon with a personal-best score of 6288, still 212 shy of the provisional qualifying standard. Widman was the class of the heptathlon field. Kraybill won the 800, taking the lead after 500 meters and then holding off Washington's Lindsay Egerdahl to win in 2:09.54. Dianna Grossglass (Fr., LaConner, Wa.), trying to clinch a trip to nationals, high-jumped 5-3 and finished third. In the pole vault, Studer was runner-up to Washington's Kate Soma (12-5 1/2) at 11-10. Ayers-Stamper was third in the high jump (5-5) and fifth in the javelin (127-10) before scratching her other two events. Seattle Pacific's other top-five finishes included Jamie Witt (So., Folsom, Ca.), second in the 5000 (17:48.49); Kelsey Gleason (Fr., Salem, Or.), fifth in the 400 hurdles (1:06.20), and Becky Knox (Fr., Denver, Co./Denver Christian), fifth in the 10,000 (42:30.77). Two meet records were broken, including the men's hammer throw mark which had stood since 1996. Scott Boothby of Club Northwest added more than 10 feet to the record with a winning fling of 226-9. Seattle University's Kelly Fullerton set a new women's steeplechase standard at 11:12.34.

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.