Making selves at home. It’s not quite a home track advantage but it’s as good as it gets for Seattle Pacific University this weekend as it co-hosts the 19th annual Ken Foreman Invitational track and field meet Saturday (May 14) at Husky Stadium. Admission is free. Combined events and the hammer will be conducted earlier in the week. The Foreman is the final qualifying opportunity for most of the collegiate teams in the area and over 600 competitors are expected to enter. A final determination of accepted entries for the NCAA Division II Championships will be made May 17 with the national meet following May 26-28 in Abilene, Tex.

Nuts and bolts. Coach Jack Hoyt has developed a meet schedule suited to take advantage of light morning winds and warmer afternoon temperatures, with distance events beginning at 9 a.m., two hours earlier than usual, and the final event on the track is tentatively slated to begin at 3:10 p.m. A complete meet schedule can be found in the PDF version of this release or by clicking here. The decathlon and heptathlon competitions will be held Thursday and Friday (May 12-13) at nearby King’s High School, and the hammer will be thrown Friday (3 p.m.) at Pacific Lutheran University. The Foreman meet returns to Husky Stadium for the 16th time after moving to the Southwest Athletic Complex a year ago. The Falcons have added at least four national qualifiers at each of the last three Foreman Invitationals.

Best yet to come. Call them greedy but the Falcons are far from content with their 16 women and three men on the NCAA provisional qualifier list to date. First of all, only about half of those on the list will either choose to enter that event or make the selection cut with their current mark. Furthermore, a handful of potential qualifiers have yet to make the list. That was the case at this same stage a year ago. Chris Randolph (Jr., Lone Tree, Co./Denver Christian) and Danielle Ayers-Stamper (Jr., LaCrosse, Wa.) used the Foreman Invitational to qualify and went to finish third and fourth in the decathlon and heptathlon.

Mister (and Misses) Bubble. At least a half-dozen women and one male find themselves on the bubble going into this week. Jason Childress (Fr., Arlington, Wa.) may need to raise his decathlon score up to 6650. In the heptathlon, Linda Blake (Jr., Richland, Wa.) and Bridgette Sexton (Fr., LaCenter, Wa.) are aiming for at least 4700 points. In the pole vault, past qualifiers Ally Studer (Sr., Redmond, Wa./Redmond) and Allie Hedges (Jr., Richland, Wa.) will both need to clear 12 feet, something both have done before. Last season, Sara Johnson (Sr., Kennewick, Wa.) was sixth in the NCAA javelin while Jennifer Marsh (So., Kirkland, Wa./Juanita) made trips to both the indoor and outdoor national meets in the 800. Both are hoping to rediscover their form. Johnson returned from an injury to make the provisional list with a throw of 136-0 last week, and needs to get above 140. Marsh must drop nearly 5 seconds off her season-best time, to around 2:12.5.

Missing you. It appears that the Falcons will be without one of their stars for the remainder of the season. Distance runner Karen Dickson (So., El Dorado Hills, Ca./Oak Ridge) has left the team for personal reasons. She had not been medically cleared to train or compete. Dickson’s absence is significant; she was the No. 2 NCAA qualifier in the 10,000 meters and No. 8 in the 5000. Last fall Dickson won the GNAC cross country crown and finished fourth nationally. Indoors, she was the conference mile winner and second in the NCAA 5000.

Just short, again. Without Dickson, the SPU women came up just short in their quest to retake the GNAC championship from Western Oregon. The Wolves won by a margin of eight points. Injuries had played a part in close defeats the previous two seasons as well. The men, however, finished better than ever, taking fourth place. That was up two places and 53.5 points from 2004. Western Washington ended the five-year WOU men’s reign.

I want my results. Results for the Foreman Invitational will be available late Saturday afternoon here on The Falcons Online. Accepted entries and heats are now posted.

Most impressive. The Falcons won a total of seven women and two men’s events, setting five meet records in the process. Ayers-Stamper was a one-woman wrecking crew, winning three events with meet records and scoring 38.5 points (more than four teams). Most impressive among her marks was the personal-best hurdles and stadium record time of 13.82 seconds and a third-place javelin throw of 138-7 which put her on the provisional list. She also won the high jump (PR of 5-8 1/2) and long jump (19-0 3/4). Paul Mach (Sr., Seattle, Wa./King’s) not only clinched a place at nationals but showed himself to be a title contender in the 800, speeding down the track in 1:49.31–another stadium record and a PR by 2.25. It was his fifth career conference title. He won the 400 hurdles from 2001-03 and the indoor 800 in 2004.

Winners’ circle. Successfully defending their crowns from ‘04 were three Falcons. Kinyatta Leonhardt (So. Petaluma, Ca./St. Vincent) won the 400 in a meet record 57.16. Marsh repeated in the 800 (2:19.00) and Tim LeCount (Sr., Battle Ground, Wa.) did so in the 5000 (15:12.71). Leonhardt had won the indoor 60 and LeCount the cross country title earlier this year. Joining them in the winners’ circle were Amy Harris (Jr., Corvallis, Or./Crescent Valley) in the pole vault (12-2) and Lauren VerMulm (Fr., Mount Vernon, Wa.) in the javelin (145-4). Leonhardt, who took bronze finishes in the 100 and 200, was accountable for 22 points. Blake and Kelsey Cooley (Fr., Missoula, Mt./Hellgate) each had 18. Childress and Randolph had 15 and 14, respectively, to pace the men.

All that and a bag of chips. Randolph ran second in the 400 in a PR of 49.92 and was fourth in the long jump (21-4 ¼). 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. 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). 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) and Hedges, third in the pole vault at 11-2 ¼.

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.