Not quite the beach. Ahhhh. The sun, the sand and the good times that await during spring break. However, with a late start south and all of the activity occurring inland, the only sand the Seattle Pacific University track & field teams will likely encounter during the next two weeks will be the fill from the long jump pits. Following Saturday’s (Mar. 19) Husky Preview, a select group of Falcons will make its way to the Bay Area for a couple meets next week. The first heptathlon and decathlon of the spring will be held midweek in Berkeley. The Nike Stanford Invitational concludes activity Mar. 25-26.

Weather turned upside down. Under usual circumstances, Coach Jack Hoyt would be taking his travel squad to California with hopes of finding more pleasant conditions in which to train and perform. Yet in this oddball winter, the dry, mild climate exists in the Northwest, not in California, where long-range forecasts call for intermittent rain showers and temperatures generally in the 60s. Back in Seattle, the springlike conditions since January have enabled the Falcons to get outdoors nearly every day, which perhaps contributed to a stellar indoor season and four quick provisional qualifying marks in the first two outdoor meets.

Boston: All-American city. Back in 1776, Boston was the birthplace of America’s revolution. This past weekend, it may have served as the springboard for a sensational year in SPU track and field. At the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships, the Falcon women were prominent, with three top-four individual finishes, an eighth-place point team total and the program’s first national champion in 11 years. Danielle Ayers-Stamper (Jr., LaCrosse, Wa.) won the high jump (5 feet, 8 inches) and took fourth in the long jump (19-5 1/2), accounting for 15 of the squad’s 25 points. She became the first NCAA titleist since Karin Grelsson in the 1994 triple jump. Meanwhile, Karen Dickson (So., El Dorado Hills, Ca./Oak Ridge) was another two-time All-American. Dickson was runner-up in the 5000 meters (16:34.72), breaking her own school and Great Northwest Athletic Conference marks, and also ran a strong mile leg in the seventh-place medley relay (11:46.46). The rest of the All-Americans were fellow relay members Karin Rhode (Fr., Bellingham, Wa./Mount Baker), Kinyatta Leonhardt (So., Petaluma, Ca./St. Vincent) and Jose Lavin (Jr., Bremerton, Wa.).

Same place, different results. Aside from the indoor travel team, the majority of athletes revisited Tacoma and the Puget Sound campus for the second outdoor meet last week. The women got their fourth provisional national qualifier but could not overcome the holes in their lineup to win the Peyton Invitational team title. Lauren VerMulm (Fr., Mount Vernon, Wa.) won the javelin, lead SPU to a 1-2-3 sweep and, in all, the women recorded seven wins and the men three. Winning by a margin of more than 8 feet over teammate Molly Hornbuckle (So., Burien, Wa./Highline), VerMulm sent the spear 141 feet, 11 inches–the best throw by an SPU freshman since Nicole Trammell in 1995. Hornbuckle threw 133-8 and Sara Johnson (Sr., Kennewick, Wa.) was third with 132-6. Central Washington won both the men’s and women’s titles in the five-team meet, which included Western Washington, Saint Martin’s and host UPS. The Wildcat women totaled 193 points to Seattle Pacific’s 155. Seattle Pacific was fourth among men’s teams with 58 points.

Rest of the best. Ayers-Stamper was the only jumper to clear 5-8, doing so on her second attempt. Seven others tied at 5-7. Dickson improved her own records by nearly 12 seconds. She had stayed with eventual winner Janet Kogo of Harding (16:19.59) until the final 1500. Dickson had run a 4:52 mile the previous day in the relay. She was fourth in the cross country championship last fall. The final placement for SPU was the best since placing sixth in 1993. Saint Augustine’s won with 53 points. In the 60 hurdles final, Ayers-Stamper was a non-scoring ninth place in 8.88 seconds after clipping two hurdles. She had run 8.68 in the prelims. Central Missouri’s Denise Sandbothe won in 8.61. Pole vaulters Amy Harris (Jr., Philomath, Or./Crescent Valley) and Allie Hedges (Jr., Richland, Wa.) finished 12th and 13th, respectively, clearing 11-9 3/4 and 11-3 3/4. Amanda Frame of Minnesota State Mankato vaulted 13-1 1/2 to win by four inches. Adams State won the relay in 11:32.06.

Talk about Tacoma. At the Peyton meet, the Falcons got a couple all-time best clockings in the steeplechase. Doug Gibson (So., Yakima, Wa./Riverside Christian) won the men’s race in a No. 5 all-time mark of 9:31.22. Victoria Perkins (So., Kent, Wa./Kentwood) got the No. 2 time (12:04.90) for the women and finished second. Besides the javelin, the other 1-2 finishes were in the 100 hurdles, with Kelsey Cooley (So., Missoula, Mt./Hellgate) wining in 15.45 seconds and Linda Blake (Jr., Richland, Wa.) next in 15.91, and the pole vault, where Monica Anderson (Fr., Bremerton, Wa.) cleared 11-5 3/4 and Ally Studer (Sr., Redmond, Wa.) went 10-11 3/4. Blake also won the high jump, matching her personal-best leap of 5-5.

SPU Coaches. Jack Hoyt is now in his sixth season as head coach after succeeding the legendary Ken Foreman. His teams have won two outdoor conference titles and this year’s GNAC indoor crown. Hoyt is a former All-America decathlete at SPU and served as an assistant to Foreman for seven years. Heritage, the coach of cross country and track runners from 800 meters up, is a member of eight halls of fame for both athletes and coaches. Algerian Hart, former Long Beach State star, is in his third year as hurdles/sprints coach. Among the other assistants are Kelly LaBounty, a two-time Olympian in the heptathlon, and Laura Widman, a two-time All-America in the heptathlon.