The Falcons Online -- Seattle Pacific University Athletics

Track Springs Into Fortnight of Activity
Falcons in 5 Meets Over 9 Days; Pixler Running Amuck
April 3, 2007

Fractions

Latasha Essien (Fr., Portland, Or./Reynolds) ran a 12.35 100 in L.A., tying her for No. 5 on the GNAC all-time list. Her 25.65 ranks 10th. Jane Larson (Fr., Fall City, Wa./Cedar Park Christian), whose 800 was 2:16.53, also stands 10th. Rohde’s 3000 is No. 7...A year ago, the women needed seven weeks to get their first nine qualifying marks. This year it’s taken just four weeks of activity...Pixler’s 1500 was the best by a Falcon in 15 years. Charlotte Jensen ran a 4:23.19 in 1992 when she was the NCAA runner-up. Sims ran the best 100 since Shavonne Colebrooke’s record of 11.79 in 1996. It’s been eight years since anyone had broken 25 seconds in the 200...Perkins had jumped 5-7 3/4 outdoors last year and and 5-8 3/4 indoor this past winter...The 1600 relay of Sims, Anna Walters (Fr., Spokane, Wa./North Central), Jessica Hinton (Fr., Lake Stevens, Wa.) and Essien ran 3:58.47...Assistant coach Chris Randolph is entered in the decathlon in California next week. A year ago in the same meet he broke the longstanding SPU record. Randolph was the NCAA champion the past two seasons...Sims and Essien will run the 100/200 in California, and Larson the 1500 while Perkins will high-jump and Bekins, in addition to the heptathlon, will throw the javelin at SAC. Strickler (800) and Cronrath (1500) will represent the men...Among the notable entries in Bellingham are Essien running her first 400, Pixler her first 800 (and 3k) and Rohde her first 3000 steeplechase. Those entered in more than two events are Pekins (400, 800, high jump) and Bekins (100 hurdles, high jump, long jump, javelin)....Going into this week, Pixler owns the top NCAA qualifying time in both the 1500 (by 8 seconds) and 3000 (by 16). Bekins is No. 2 in the javelin, Perkins No. 3 in the high jump and Sims No. 8 in the 100...Halfway to the GNAC Championships, the Falcons hold league-best marks in six women’s individual events. Besides record-holders Pixler, Sims and Perkins, Bekins is No. 1 in the javelin and Anderson in the pole vault. For the men, Cronrath is No. 2 in the 1500.

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They went thattaway. A lull gives way to a flurry of activity over the next two weeks for the Seattle Pacific University track and field teams. With the commencement of spring quarter classes the Falcons are back together Saturday (Apr. 7) for the Vernacchia Team Classic in Bellingham before groups of athletes go their separate ways. Some will go to Southern California for three meets, including the 49th annual Mount SAC Relays (Apr. 13-15), while the balance of the squads heads east to the Spike Arlt Invitational, Apr. 14 in Ellensburg.

Starting over. A year ago, a split squad was unable to generate enough points to win the Vernacchia women’s title for the eighth year in a row. This time, the Falcons are both rested and coming in full force. They feature nine athletes who have already surpassed NCAA Division II qualifying standards, and they are coming off an indoor season in which they finished seventh nationally. SPU has been idle since 18 team members participated in the Mar. 24 Trojan Invitational. Host Western Washington won both the men’s and women’s crowns last year.

Multi-this & that. Mutli-event performers will enter their first decathlons and heptathlons of the season during these next two weeks. Brittany Bekins (So., Everett, Wa./Cascade) is bound for the Apr. 11-12 California Invitational while Kelsey Cooley (Jr., Missoula, Mt./Hellgate), an All-American the past two seasons, is questionable due to injuries. Kristin Janney (Sr., White Salmon, Wa.) and Justin Felt (Fr., Eugene, Or./Churchill) will go into action beginning Friday (Apr. 6) in Bellingham.

Return trip. Coach Karl Lerum will take a troupe of 6-8 men and women south to California for Mount SAC next week. Among them will be Jessica Pixler (Fr., Sammamish, Wa./Eastlake), who owns the nation’s top qualifying times and Great Northwest Athletic Conference records in the 1500 and 3000. Pixler is likely to double in the 800 and 1500 at Mount SAC, with the rest of the group split between that meet and another at UCLA.

Human erasers. The GNAC record book is in the process of being rewritten by the Falcons. In Los Angeles, they expunged three records and tied another. NyEma Sims (Fr., Portland, Or./Jefferson) bolted to a pair of new standards in the sprints. She took fourth place in the 100 in a personal-record 12.00, which ranks No. 3 all-time for the Falcons. Her 24.71 in the 200 is No. 4 at SPU. Sims, who was named the conference athlete of the week, made the provisional qualifying list in both events. The old GNAC records had been 12.13 and 25.07, respectively. Teona Perkins (Sr., Kennewick, Wa.) cleared 5 feet, 8 3/4 inches in the high jump. It was good for sixth place, a provisional qualifying place and tied former Falcon Danielle Ayers-Stamper on the GNAC list.

Quick Pix. Pixler was the Falcons’ sole winner at USC, comfortably beating (6-plus seconds) a field comprised nearly entirely of runners from Division I programs in the 1500. Her time of 4 minutes, 23.29 seconds was her second GNAC record in as many weeks. It broke the old mark by nearly five seconds and also rates No. 4 in SPU records. Pixler had set the 3000 record in her outdoor debut last week, and she had set two indoors. She is automatically qualified for both the NCAA 1500 and 3000.

Worthwhile trip. In all, Seattle Pacific added five new national qualifying marks. Karin Rohde (Jr., Bellingham, Wa./Mt. Baker) made it in the 3000, improving her PR by more than 21 seconds to 10:09.64. She was seventh. Other highlights for the Falcons included a win by Monica Anderson (Jr., Bremerton, Wa.) in the B section of the pole vault (11-5 ?) and a fifth-place javelin throw of 145-4 by Bekins. For the men, Brian Cronrath (Jr., Battle Ground) got the top placement, running fourth in the 1500 with a PR of 3:56.07. Chad Meis (Fr., Renton, Wa./Seattle Christian) was fifth in the 3000 (8:52.97) and Eddie Strickler (Sr., Richland, Wa.) was eighth in the 800 (1:54.26). Cronrath was chosen as the GNAC male athlete of the week.

Be a camper. Lerum’s Falcon Track & Field Camp is July 2-3, 5-6 on Wallace Field, and Doris Heritage’s Falcon Running Camp is July 22-27, at Camp Casey on Whidbey Island. For information, call (206) 281-2085 or download a registration form

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