South by east. Explorers sailed west to find the Far East and this weekend the Seattle Pacific University track & field teams will go east while focused on their targeted destination to the south. The Falcons compete at the Spike Arlt Invitational in Ellensburg on Saturday (Apr. 17), although most are more concerned with the Oregon Invitational in Eugene the following week. That’s a sign that the spring season is reaching its peak, with three weeks remaining prior to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships and five more opportunities to qualify for the NCAA Division II Championships next month.

Home meet to Westside. Seattle Pacific’s sole home meet will move for the first time in 15 years as the Ken Foreman Invitational goes to West Seattle’s Sealth Stadium and Southwest Athletic Complex for the May 15 meet. The Falcons had used Husky Stadium since 1989 but scheduling conflicts prompted this year’s change. The Foreman, which usually falls on the final weekend of the regular season, annually attracts the top collegians and club athletes from throughout the Pacific Northwest.

This train don’t stop. While the Arlt Invitational has a team scoring prize, Coach Jack Hoyt plans to have his athletes train through this meet, with the top qualifying prospects setting their sights on the Oregon Invitational. One symptom of this strategy is the planned doubling in events by middle-distance and distance runners. Tim LeCount (Jr., Battle Ground, Wa.), Jennifer Marsh (Fr., Kirkland, Wa./Juanita) and Eddie Strickler (Fr., Richland, Wa.) will all run both the 800 and 1500 meters at Ellensburg.

Score one more. The Falcons were shorthanded last week, yet they still managed to take the women’s team crown at the Shotwell Invitational by nearly 90 points. It was their third victory in as many scored meets this season. Janna Schaafsma (So., Soldotna, Ak.) won the 100-meter hurdles (15.30 seconds) and took second in the 400 hurdles in a PR and GNAC season-best of 1:04.26 to earn conference athlete of the week. Marsh added a victory and season-best time of 2:13.24 in the 800 and also ran the anchor leg of the 1600 relay, which hit a season-best time (3:53.56) to win for the fifth time in six outings. Other winners were high-jumper Sharon Bjella (Fr., Everett, Wa./Everett), clearing 5-feet-3, and pole-vaulter Allie Hedges (So., Richland, Wa.), at 11-5 1/4. SPU totaled 164.45 points, comfortably in front of runner-up and host Puget Sound’s 74.5. Kinyatta Leonhardt (Fr., Petaluma, Ca./St. Vincent), who ran on the long relay with Marsh, was second in the 200 in a PR of 25.34. Additional runners-up were Sara Johnson (Jr., Kennewick, Wa.) in the javelin (131-7) and Linda Blake (So., Richland, Wa.) in the long jump (16-5 3/4). The men took sixth place with 47.5 points. Western Washington won handily with 186. Strickler picked up his second victory of the year in the 800, lowering his PR to 1:54.56. LeCount, back after a two-week absence, ran second in the 5000 in a career-best 15:06.13.