Complete Results

ELLENSBURG, Wash. (May 7) ­ Despite a huge effort from Danielle Ayers-Stamper, Seattle Pacific University's bid for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's track and field title fell just short to Western Oregon for the third year in a row at Tomlinson Stadium Saturday.

The Wolves took advantage of a depleted SPU distance corps to prevail by 8 points, 217.5-209.5.

In all, Ayers-Stamper won three events, setting meet records in each, and also erased two GNAC records. She was voted the meet's co-athlete after scoring 38.5 points across five events. Western Oregon's Monica Smith, runner-up in three events and winner of last month's heptathlon, shared the honor.

Seattle Pacific won a total of seven women's and two men's individual titles, with Paul Mach (Sr., Seattle, Wa./King's) starring for the males. Mach led wire to wire and set aside an 18-year-old stadium record in the 800 meters.

Western Oregon's five-year reign as men's champion was ended by Western Washington, 221-186. Seattle Pacific got fourth place (85.5), its best ever. It had been sixth the past two years.

Ayers-Stamper (Jr., LaCrosse, Wa.) crushed the 12-year-old stadium standard in galloping through the 100 hurdles in 13.82 seconds -- the No. 3 time in NCAA Division II. Earlier, she had won the long jump (19-0 ¾) and she capped a busy day by taking first in the high jump (5-8 ½). She also qualified for her fifth NCAA event, throwing the javelin 138 feet, 7 inches to finish third.

Adam Neff of Western Washington was selected as the outstanding male, winning the 100 and 200, plus leading the Vikings to first in the 400 relay.

The women's lead was traded back and forth, with WOU taking a 13-point lead into the final two events after strong showings in the 200 dash and discus. The Wolves clinched victory by winning the 1600 relay, the meet's final race. SPU was third.

SPU was missing its star distance runner, Karen Dickson (So., El Dorado Hills, Ca.), who was not medically cleared to compete. Dickson owned the league's top qualifying times in two events and had originally been slated to double in the 1500 and 5000.

The bulk of the Falcons' points came from the heptathletes. Besides Ayers-Stamper, Linda Blake (Jr., Richland, Wa.) and Kelsey Cooley (Fr., Missoula, Mt.) supplied 18 apiece.

Mach won his fifth career conference title in grand fashion, blowing away the field and running the second-best time in the nation. His time of 1:49.31 is second only in to Ted Hamlin at SPU and was an improvement of 2.25 seconds over his previous best.

Mach had won three consecutive 400 hurdles crowns between 2001-03 and added the indoor 800 in '04.

Tim LeCount (Sr., Battle Ground, Wa.) picked up his second GNAC gold medal of the year and repeated as winner of the 5000 run in a season-best time of 15:12.81. He had won the cross country title in the fall.

Chris Randolph (Jr., Lone Tree, Co.) and Jason Childress (Fr., Arlington, Wa.) combined for 29 points. Randolph ran second in the 400 in a PR of 49.92 and was fourth in the long jump (21-4 ¼). Childress had been second in the decathlon last month.

The men's 400 relay time of 43.07 was not only good enough for third place but was No. 2 on the school list and the best since 1968. Randolph and Childress were joined by Kurt Engelson (Sr., Stanwood, Wa.) and Ryan Jewell (Fr., Olympia, Wa.) on the relay.

The SPU women performed well in races from 400-3000 meters, the javelin and the vertical field events.

On the track, Kinyatta Leonhardt (So., Petaluma, Ca./St. Vincent) beat the field and the 400 meet record in 57.16 to hold her title. Jennifer Marsh (So., Kirkland, Wa./Juanita) successfully defended her 800 crown in 2:19.00. Josie Lavin (Jr., Bremerton, Wa./Bremerton) accounted for 14 points by taking second in the 1500 (4:49.42) and third in the 800 (2:21.63).

Lauren VerMulm (Fr., Mount Vernon, Wa.) helped spark a late afternoon comeback by winning the javelin (145-4) and helping her team score 21 points in the event. Sustaining the momentum, Amy Harris (Jr., Corvallis, Or.) set a stadium mark in getting first place in the pole vault. Harris cleared a personal best 12-2 to greatly improve her chances of qualifying for nationals. Allie Hedges (Jr., Richland, Wa.) was third at 11-2 ¼.

Also earning all-conference honors (finishing in the top three) for the women were Karin Rhode (Fr., Bellingham, Wa./Mount Baker), taking third in the 3000 (10:40.26); Brandi McCoy (Jr., Richland, Wa.), third in the steeplechase (11:48.4).

SPU hosts the Ken Foreman Invitational next Saturday at Husky Stadium.