The Falcons Online -- Seattle Pacific University Athletics

Indoor Track Season About To Get Underway

First Of 3 Meets At UW Jan. 18; GNAC Championships Feb. 21
January 14, 2004

Complete Weekly Release PDF Version

2004 Men's Schedule/Results

2004 Women's Schedule/Results

Indoor Plants

Ayers-Stamper, receiving treatment for a back ailment, will focus on the 60 hurdles and 800 indoors once cleared to compete. She is a finalist for Pacific Northwest athlete of the year, having also won three events at conference, taken second in the heptathlon and U.S. Junior Nationals and fifth at the Junior Pan-Am Games...Amber Rose (Sr., Olympia, Wa./Capital) has been consistently vaulting over 11 feet, adding to the Falcons’ quality depth...The Falcons’ top middle-distance and distance runners–Jamie Witt (Jr., Folsom, Ca.), Josie Lavin (Jr., Bremerton, Wa.) and Tim LeCount (Jr., Battle Ground, Wa.)–will use the indoor season to rebuild their endurance following an intense cross country season...Greater emphasis on meets was a factor in the men setting four new school records and the women establishing three last winter. Studer’s clearance of 12-1 1/2 and Ayers-Stamper’s 60 hurdles time of 9.02 were also GNAC marks...SPU athletes have won three NCAA indoor titles, including two by triple-jumper Karin Grelsson (1993-94) and another by shot putter Mike Olson (1993)...The conference meet will be hosted by Northwest Nazarene at the Idaho Sports Center in Nampa.

Shorts & tanks in winter. It’s a bit wet and chilly outside but that’s why track & field teams, clad in their shorts and singlets, compete indoors this time of year. Seattle Pacific University sends its men’s and women’s across town to the University of Washington Indoor Open this weekend for the first of three regular season meets, all of taking place at the Dempsey Indoor facility. The first Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships will be Feb. 21 in Idaho and the indoor phase of the campaign will culminate with the NCAA Championships Mar. 12-13 in Boston. Outdoor activity begins March 6.

Featured Falcons. Among the returnees this season are two of the Falcons’ three NCAA indoor qualifiers from 2003. Ally Studer (Sr., Redmond, Wa./Redmond) took fourth place in the pole vault to earn All-America status. She was also 10th outdoors last spring. Danielle Ayers-Stamper (So., LaCrosse, Wa.) qualified for the high jump indoors a year ago, but truly made her mark outdoors, finishing second in the NCAA heptathlon. The most notable loss is Sarah Kraybill, who finished fourth in the indoor 800 and third in the outdoor 800 at nationals.

Please come to Boston. The indoor season continues to grow in prominence and Coach Jack Hoyt plans to make the GNAC title and scoring at nationals high priorities. The women have won outdoor conference crowns three of the last four years and are coming off a GNAC championship in cross country in the fall. To take the inaugural indoor title, Hoyt will rely heavily on his jumpers and vaulters. Studer and Allie Hedges (So., Richland, Wa./Richland) each have 12-foot potential in the pole vault. Dianna Grossglass (So., LaConner, Wa.) is an NCAA prospect in the high jump as well as a conference contender in the hurdles and triple jump. Freshmen Sharon Bjella (Fr., Everett, Wa./Everett), Danae Clark (Fr., Hillsboro, Or./Glencoe) and Kristin Janney (Fr., White Salmon, Wa./Columbia) should make an impact in the pits. Bjella took second place in the state 4A high jump. Janney was third in the 2A long and triple jumps. Clark was runner-up in the Oregon 4A long jump.

Men about town. The go-to guy for the Falcon men’s team is Paul Mach (Sr., Seattle, Wa./King’s). A three-time conference champion in the intermediate hurdles, Mach’s indoor forte is the 800 meters. He ran a 1:53.94 outdoors last spring and is in superb condition. He will need to run near 1:52.5 to earn a ticket to Boston. Elsewhere, decathletes Chris Randolph (So., Lone Tree, Co./Denver Christian) and Philip Bayley (Jr., Seattle, Wa./King’s), a transfer from Pacific Lutheran, are high-jumping near 6-7. Eddie Strickler (Fr., Richland, Wa./Richland), sixth in the state 800 as a senior, is a solid prospect and GNAC scoring threat.