Multiple events. Three days, two meets and a select group of athletes from Seattle Pacific University will be found in central Oregon later this week as the track & field season turns for the home stretch. First, the Falcons are sending a handful of men and women to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Multi-Event Championships, which begin Thursday (Apr. 22) in Monmouth. On Saturday (Apr. 24), the scene shifts south to legendary Hayward Field in Eugene for the Oregon Invitational. Next week’s fare is the Western Washington Twilight meet Apr. 30 in Bellingham.

Points to remember. Seattle Pacific’s bid to regain the GNAC women’s outdoor team title will begin at a quiet McArthur Field with the first day of the heptathlon. Defending champion and host Western Oregon remains the team to beat and the Wolves have the top three heptathlon scores this spring. Still, Coach Jack Hoyt hopes to keep the individual title at SPU for the third year in a row and give his squad some momentum going into the full GNAC Championships May 8, also at Monmouth. His top contender is Linda Blake (So., Salem, Or./Salem Academy), who will be joined by Kristin Janney (White Salmon, Wa./Columbia) and Sharon Bjella (Fr., Everett, Wa./Everett). Blake was second in the conference heptathlon as a freshman. In the decathlon, Dan Larimer (Fr., Libby, Mt.) and Philip Bayley (Jr., Seattle, Wa./King’s) will represent the Falcons. Notable by their absence from this year’s meet are Danielle Ayers-Stamper (So., LaCrosse, Wa.), the defending heptathlon champ, and Chris Randolph (So., Lone Tree, Co./Denver Christian), the runner-up in the decathlon. Ayers-Stamper is a redshirt and Randolph, who has been out four weeks with an ankle sprain, is questionable for a return next month.

Kinyatta Leonhardt sparked the women’s fifth straight scored meet victory and earned a share of GNAC athlete of the week at the Arlt Invitational last Saturday.

A peak performance opp. The Oregon Invitational affords an opportunity for Hoyt’s top people to push for some top marks against some elite opposition in a great setting. The region’s best collegiate and club athletes annually congregate at before several thousand fans at Hayward Field for this meet, which is split into day and twilight sessions. Among the Falcons’ accepted entries are the six NCAA provisional qualifiers: 400-meter sprinter Kinyatta Leonhardt (Fr., Petaluma, Ca./St. Vincent), 800 runner Jennifer Marsh (Fr., Kirkland, Wa./Juanita), distance ace Karen Dickson (Fr., El Dorado Hills, Ca./Oak Ridge), pole vaulters Allie Hedges (So., Richland, Wa.) and Amy Harris (So., Philomath, Or./Crescent Valley) and javelin thrower Sara Johnson (Jr., Kennewick, Wa.).

Make it five straight. Leonhardt sparked the women’s fifth straight scored meet victory and earned a share of GNAC athlete of the week at the Arlt Invitational. Leonhardt won both the 400–in a meet and personal record of 56.22 seconds–and long jump (her collegiate debut), and anchored the winning 400 relay to a season-best time (48.2). Elsewhere, Hedges virtually assured herself a spot at nationals by clearing 12 feet, 1 1/2 inches–a career-best clearance by over seven inches. It was her fifth win in six meets. SPU won seven events altogether to defeat host Central Washington 174-153 for the women’s crown.