All together now. Scattered about for much of the past month of the outdoor track and field season, Seattle Pacific University’s teams will hold a get-together Saturday (Apr. 8) at the J.D. Shotwell Invitational in Tacoma. The meet essentially starts the second half of the outdoor campaign. Next week SPU will send a small contingent to the Mount SAC Relays with most of the squad going to Ellensburg Apr. 15 for the Spike Arlt Invitational.

Seven & counting. So far, the Falcons count eight provisional national qualifiers. They added three and improved upon two other marks last week despite mostly inclement weather at their three meets. Kelsey Cooley (So., Missoula, Mt./Hellgate) made the grade by scoring 4616 points in the California Multi-Event meet, and Mary Moriarty (Fr., Seattle, Wa./Ballard) ran and won her 3000-meter debut in 10:14.2 at the Vernacchia Team Classic in Bellingham. At the Stanford Invitational, Teona Perkins (Jr., Kennewick, Wa.) cleared 5 feet, 5 3/4 inches in the high jump. However, the best mark of the week came at Stanford, from javelin thrower Lauren Ver Mulm (So., Mount Vernon, Wa.). Her spear sailed 145-5–good enough for seventh place and No. 2 in NCAA Division II this season.

A broken record. Another week, another broken steeplechase record. Karin Rohde (So., Bellingham, Wa./Mount Baker) established an SPU record in that event for the fourth time in five weeks at Stanford, running the oval and its obstacles in 11:05.85 to drop the record by another 10 seconds. Rohde ran the steeple only once prior to this spring. After breaking a record for the first time, Brandi McCoy (Sr., Richland, Wa.) held it for a week before Rohde reclaimed it. The steeple only became a Div. II championship event in 2001.

Talk about the weather. Hoping to escape the cool, wet and windy weather of the Northwest, the Falcons took some top prospects south to the Bay Area last week. What greeted their arrival? Cool, wet and windy weather. As a consequence, only Rohde achieved a personal record and precious few registered a season-best mark. Cooley’s total was more than 300 shy of her score while finishing eighth in the heptathlon at nationals a year ago and Linda Blake (Sr., Richland, Wa.) also well short (4294) of her career best. Although not exactly web-footed, the Falcons may have fared better than most visitors to the Golden State. In preparation for next week’s decathlon, Chris Randolph (Sr., Lone Tree, Co.) put together a solid 400 (48.75), javelin (180-6) and long jump (20-5) amidst the puddles at Stanford. Northern California had rainfall for 25 of 31 days in March.

Six was enough. Up north near the Canadian border, the weather was relatively decent at the Vernacchia Team Classic. Shorthanded, the SPU women were unable to win their seventh straight team title, finishing fifth. In addition to Moriarty, winners were Allie Hedges (Sr., Richland, Wa.) and Monica Anderson (So., Bremerton, Wa.) tying in the pole vault–both at 10-8–and Phil Bayley (Sr., Seattle, Wa./King’s) in the discus (121-5). Host Western Washington won both team titles. Seattle Pacific was eighth among men’s teams.

SPU Coaches. In October, Karl Lerum became just the fifth person to take the helm of the Seattle Pacific program’s 56-year existence. A former assistant coach and past All-American in the decathlon, Lerum succeeds Jack Hoyt, who resigned after six seasons. This is the first head coaching position for Lerum after four seasons as an assistant, including two at Trinity College, and serving under Hoyt at SPU during 2000 and again in 2003. Lerum was a four-time All-American from 1995-98 at Pacific Lutheran. He finished second in the NAIA decathlon in 1997 and ’98 and third in ’96... Doris 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. The other assistants are Duncan Atwood, Aaron Bass, Cyrena Bell and Howie Kellogg.

Missing links. For the latest and best information on Seattle Pacific University athletics, stay where you're at -- on The Falcons Online. For updated standings and statistics, see the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Website.