SPU Sending Five Women, One Male to NCAA Track and Field Championships
May 18, 2004

SEATTLE (May 18) – Seattle Pacific University is sending six track & field athletes, including three seeded among the top five in their respective events, to the NCAA Division II Championships next week.

Danielle Ayers-Stamper (So., LaCrosse, Wa.) and Chris Randolph (So., Lone Tree, Co./Denver Christian) are the highest ranked of 18 men and women from Great Northwest Athletic Conference schools. Ayers-Stamper, with a high score of 4855 points, is No. 4 in the heptathlon, a competition in which she placed second as a freshman. Randolph is fourth among decathlon qualifiers with a total of 6881 points.

Javelin thrower Sara Johnson (Jr., Kennewick, Wa.) is a No. 5 seed with a top distance of 149 feet. Johnson, the GNAC champion and a transfer from Spokane Community College, is the only upperclassmen among the SPU qualifiers. Two are freshmen and three are sophomores.

Also earning invitations to the NCAA Championships were pole vaulter Allie Hedges (So., Richland, Wa.), Karen Dickson (Fr., El Dorado Hills, Ca./Oak Ridge) in the 10,000-meter run and Jennifer Marsh (Fr., Kirkland, Wa./Juanita) in the 800. Hedges owns the 10th-best mark, at 12-2 3/4. Dickson’s entry time of 36 minutes, 9.66 seconds is No. 13 and Marsh is No. 16 (2:13.24).

The count of five women and one male is identical to the 2003 NCAA traveling party, and Ayers-Stamper is the only member with prior national meet experience.

All six Seattle Pacific athletes were pulled from the provisional qualifier list. The national meet is May 27-29 in Walnut, Ca.