Return to greatness? With the biggest and best bunch of title contenders in over 10 years, eight qualifiers from the Seattle Pacific University track and field teams will travel to the scene of some of the Falcons’ most legendary performances for the NCAA Division II Championships this week in Abilene, Tex. Competition begins Thursday (May 26) and continues through Saturday night (May 28) at Elmer Gray Stadium on the campus of Abilene Christian.

Historic West Texas. Despite some setbacks, SPU packs plenty of scoring potential at the national meet, with the women able to finish among the top 10 and the men among the top 20 if athletes stay true to form. The women were ninth in 2001 and took fifth, plus won their last individual outdoor title, at Abilene in 1993. The Falcons’ first national championship was won by Ben Moring in Abilene in 1953 at the NAIA Championships, and the last five (four women’s, one men’s) NCAA crowns were claimed in either Abilene or San Angelo, another West Texas venue.

Likely contenders. Coach Jack Hoyt has four bona fide title contenders in his travel squad. Chris Randolph (Jr., Lone Tree, Co./Denver Christian) owns the top qualifying score in the decathlon and was third at nationals a year ago. Danielle Ayers-Stamper (Jr., Lacrosse, Wa.) is entered in four events–the most ever by an SPU female–and is the No. 2 seed in the heptathlon and No. 4 in both the 100-meter hurdles and high jump. Paul Mach (Sr., Seattle, Wa./King’s) is No. 2 in a very competitive 800 run while Lauren VerMulm (Fr., Mount Vernon, Wa.) is second among javelin throwers. The last NCAA outdoor champions were Karin Grelsson (heptathlon, 1993) for the women and Mike Olson (shot put, 1992) for the men. Ayers-Stamper took this year’s indoor high jump crown.

Fresh faces. Three of the eight qualifiers are freshmen and all but Mach are due to return again next season. Translation: the Falcons figure to only get better. VerMulm hopes to duplicate the feat of Tiffany Colman who, as a freshman at San Angelo in 1992, won the javelin title. The other frosh are Kelsey Cooley (Fr., Missoula, Mt./Hellgate) in the heptathlon and Bridgette Sexton (Fr., LaCenter, Wa.) in the 800. Amy Harris (Jr., Corvallis, Or./Crescent Valley) is a first-time qualifier in the pole vault as is Molly Hornbuckle (So., Burien, Wa./Highline) in the javelin, where SPU has three entries.

She’ll be everywhere. Ayers-Stamper figures to be one exhausted young lady by Saturday night. Counting the seven combined events of the heptathlon, she will be involved in 10 competitions in three days. She opted not to declare for yet another event, the long jump, because it comes shortly after the first four events of the heptathlon. Grelsson twice qualified and competed in three events. She won the heptathlon and triple jump, and took second in the long jump in ‘92. Ayers-Stamper was the NCAA heptathlon runner-up as a freshman and came back from a midseason injury to finish fourth last season.

Once was enough. Although Randolph and Ayers-Stamper are rated at or near the top of the craft, each has only competed in one full combined event competition this season. Ayers-Stamper won the prestigious Mount SAC meet in April with a score of 5491 points, and Randolph was second with 6996 at California in late March. Given their improvement over the second half of the season, those totals should rise with the temperatures in Texas. Randolph’s progress in his 400, pole vault, long jump and javelin could send him well past 7200. Ayers-Stamper has shifted into another gear in the hurdles, high jump, long jump and particularly the javelin, giving her the tools to score substantially more than 5600. The automatic qualifying standard for the U.S. championships is 5500.

The racing form. All indications are that Mach is peaking at precisely the right time. He’s run under 1:52 in each of his last three races and put together a 1:50.99 last week in less-than-ideal circumstances. Mach, who was the GNAC athlete of the week, has finished first or second in seven of his eight races. VerMulm’s biggest marks (154-3 and 150-4) came during the first half of the season, but she consistently throws beyond 145. Ayers-Stamper demonstrated she can achieve quality marks in the high jump (5-8 1/2) and hurdles (13.83) while participating in five events at the conference meet. Cooley is coming into her own. Six of her applicable PRs have come in the last three weeks, including three after scoring 4842 in the GNAC heptathlon. Sexton, the conference co-athlete of the week, seemingly came out of nowhere to qualify in the 800. Her time of 2:12.52 came in a heptathlon last week. Harris vaulted 11-7 or higher five times–including a clearance of 12-2–in the last six meets. Hornbuckle, whose flail of 140-3 came in the first outing, has had throws of 130 or more in five of seven meets.

Historically speaking. It comes as no surprise that eight of Seattle Pacific’s NCAA 11 entries are in historically strong events for the program. There have been 15 heptathlon qualifiers in nine years and a total of four national champions. Eighteen women have been All-America in the javelin (two champs) and the women’s 800 has yielded 11 All-Americans (one winner). On the men’s side, there have been eight All-Americans in the decathlon (one winner) and five in the 800 or 880 (two champs). The Falcon women have finished among the top 20 in the nation 23 times since 1973, including 14 in the top 10. The men are trying to reach double digits in points for the first time since 1992, and they have not scored more than 15 points since 1970 when they placed 11th. There have been a total of 29 collegiate individual champions to date.

Missed by that much. With another inch here or a split-second less there, Hoyt might have had at least three more athletes bound for Abilene. Ally Studer (Sr., Redmond, Wa./Redmond) missed making the pole vault field by one place and three-quarters of an inch (11-11 3/4). Studer was an All-American twice and a three-time NCAA qualifier. Linda Blake (Jr., Richland, Wa.) was two spots down the list of eventual heptathlon qualifiers; the lowest score was 4694 and she scored 4680. In the decathlon, where 14 men were selected, Jason Childress (Fr., Arlington, Wa.) was 17th and missed by 27 points. Distance runner Karen Dickson (So., El Dorado Hills, Ca./Oak Ridge) would have been a qualifier in either the 10,000 (she ranked No. 2 nationally) or the 5000, however she has left the team for personal reasons earlier this month. Dickson finished fourth nationally in cross country and was runner-up in the NCAA indoor 5000.

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.