The Falcons Online -- Seattle Pacific University Athletics

Track’s Randolph, Ayers-Stamper Reign Supreme
5 All-Americans Due Back; Women 13th Nationally
July 19, 2005

2005 Men's Schedule/Results

2005 Men's Roster

2005 Women's Schedule/Results

2005 Women's Roster

Fractions

Despite only one new PR, Ayers-Stamper added 40 points to her NCAA score at the USATF meet, finishing with 5646. She cleared a career-best 5-10 in the high jump. She becomes the first Falcon since Anita Sartin in 1987 to make a U.S. national team...VerMulm finished eighth in the junior championships javelin with a best throw of 143-6...Hoyt, who last year won the U.S. masters decathlon crown, ran sixth in the masters 110 hurdles. He will compete at the world senior decathlon championships next month in San Sebastian, Spain...With 20 points, the Falcon women finished with their best NCAA placement and total since taking ninth in 2001. SPU was eighth at the NCAA indoor. The men’s 15 points and 15th-place effort was the best since 1973. Ayers-Stamper accounted for half of her team’s points. She ran seventh in the hurdles in 14.39...Coming from nearly 300 points behind on the final event, Randolph claimed the decathlon. He wiped-out what was once a 622-point deficit going into the final three events. Needing to finish at least 52 seconds in front of the leader, Decosma Wright of Lincoln, with both temperatures and humidity at 80, Randolph ran a personal-best time of 4:29.88 seconds and beat Wright by more than 62 seconds. The comeback began when Randolph pole-vaulted a career-best 14-3 1Ž2. The last NCAA champion for Seattle Pacific was Mike Olson, who won the shot put in 1992. The only other decathlon winner was Steve Gough in 1970...In the heptathlon, Ayers-Stamper was overtaken by Anastassia Kyvelidou of Nebraska Omaha, who won with a total of 5780. Cooley improved her top career score by 84 points with four PRs...Harris won a four-way tiebreaker in the pole vault...Sexton finished 10th in the 800 in 2:13.26...Less than an hour after completing the heptathlon, Ayers-Stamper was unable to make the opening high jump height. She also was a non-scoring 15th in the javelin (130-8).

It was a very good year. Boasting both the top athletes in the conference and some of the brightest in the classroom as well, it was quite a year for the Seattle Pacific University track and field teams. The Falcons crowned their 28th and 29th national champions, finished 13th in the nation for women and 15th for men–their best respective placements in four and 32 years–and also reeled in an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship in 2005. Punctuating the success was place on the U.S. national team for one of its stars.

The beat goes on. The accolades for track team members kept coming well after the final runner hit the finish line at the NCAA Championships in Abilene, Tx. Danielle Ayers-Stamper (Jr., Lacrosse, Wa.) took eighth place at the USA Championships heptathlon, earning her a spot on the national multi-event squad which will compete in Holland Aug. 27-28. Earlier this month, Paul Mach (Sr., Seattle, Wa./King’s) became SPU’s third winner of an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship this year. Mach, an All-American as well as Academic All-American, was the Falcons’ 18th NCAA honoree. Earlier, soccer’s Jennifer Hull and gymnast Corrie McDaniel earned postgraduate scholarships.

Hail the champions. Ayers-Stamper and Chris Randolph (Jr., Lone Tree, Co./Denver Christian) were not only voted Seattle Pacific’s co-athletes of the year, they also reigned as the Great Northwest Athletic Conference female and co-male athletes of the year. Ayers-Stamper (Jr., Lacrosse, Wa.) becomes the third SPU female to earn the award in four years. Randolph (Jr., Lone Tree, Co./Denver Christian), winner of the NCAA decathlon title with a GNAC record 7309 points, swept the indoor and outdoor track GNAC athlete of the year awards, as did Ayers-Stamper. Randolph also finished second in the conference outdoor meet in the 400 meters, fourth in the long jump and seventh in the high jump. In the indoor meet, he won GNAC titles in the 400, high jump and long jump. Ayers-Stamper earned four All-American awards. Indoors, she won the high jump title and finished fourth in the long jump. Outdoors, she was second in the heptathlon with a GNAC record score of 5606 and seventh in the 100 hurdles. Ayers-Stamper won a total of six GNAC titles and set seven GNAC records. The Falcons’ Stephanie Huffman (track) won the GNAC’s top individual honor in 2001-02 and Kerie Hughes (basketball) did so in 2002-03.

Team for all seasons. Seattle Pacific finished second overall in the GNAC All-Sports Award, thanks in large part to the cross country and track teams. The Falcons won team titles in men’s cross country and women’s indoor track, and finished second in women’s cross country and outdoor track. Individually, they accounted for 23 championships in the three seasons.

Many happy returns. The best news may be yet to come as five of the six outdoor track All-Americans are due back next season. In addition to Ayers-Stamper and Randolph, pole vaulter Amy Harris (Jr., Corvallis, Or./Crescent Valley), javelin thrower Lauren VerMulm (Fr., Mount Vernon, Wa.) and heptathlete Kelsey Cooley (Fr., Missoula, Mt./Hellgate) are returning. VerMulm took fourth in the NCAA (144-10), Harris fifth (12-2) and Cooley eighth (4926). Two other national qualifiers–Bridgette Sexton (Fr., LaCenter, Wa.) and Molly Hornbuckle (So., Burien, Wa./Highline)–will be back as well.

Incoming. Coach Jack Hoyt loses some stalwarts in Mach, three-time pole vault All-American Ally Studer (Sr., Redmond, Wa.) and distance runners Tim LeCount (Sr., Battle Ground, Wa.) and Karen Dickson (So., El Dorado Hills, Ca./Oak Ridge). However, Hoyt has signed some excellent recruits. Joining the fold are Mary Moriarty, a quality distance runner for Seattle's Ballard High School; Rosalyn Leitch, a state champion hurdler from New Mexico; Suzie Strickler, Richland High School’s top middle distance runner; and transfer Teona Perkins, an All-American in both the high jump and 4x800-meter relay at Northwest College.

A class of their own. Mach made a sweep of the postseason awards, both on and off the track. He was an GNAC champion and All-American, finishing fourth in at the NCAA 800. Besides his postgraduate scholarship, he received the Falcon Award for Excellence (along with LeCount) for career achievement in athletics, academics and leadership. He had earlier been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VIII team, along with Linda Blake (Jr., Richland, Wa.), Dickson and LeCount.

For the record. A couple outdoor school records fell this season and more than a dozen other marks ranked among the all-time top five. LeCount erased a 23-year-old mark in the 10,000 with a time of 31:22.25. Mach, Randolph, Kurt Engelson (Sr., Stanwood, Wa./Marysville-Pilchuck) and Eddie Strickler (So., Richland, Wa.) obliterated the 1600 relay record by nearly 2 seconds in 3:18.05. Mach moved up to No. 2 in the 800 (1:49.31), as did Randolph in the decathlon (7309) and the 400 relay of Randolph, Engelson, Jason Childress (Fr., Arlington, Wa.) and Ryan Jewell (Fr., Olympia, Wa./Olympia) in 43.07. For the women, Ayers-Stamper is No. 2 in the heptathlon (5646), Dickson No. 2 in the 10k (34:08.64) and Karin Rhode (Fr., Bellingham, Wa./Mount Baker) No. 2 in the steeplechase (11:41.77). Breaking GNAC records were Ayers-Stamper (heptathlon, 100 hurdles and high jump), Dickson (10,000), Mach (800), Randolph (decathlon) and VerMulm (javelin).

Be a camper. The Falcon Running Camp is next week, July 24-29, at Camp Casey on Whidbey Island. The inaugural Falcon Track & Field Camp is Aug. 8-12 on Wallace Field. For information, call (206) 281-2085 or download a registration form at the Falcons Online's summer camp page.

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.