THE SCHEDULE:
Thursday-Saturday, May 24-26
            Seattle Pacific at NCAA Championships
            Neta and Eddie DeRose ThunderBowl / Pueblo, Colo.
            (All times Pacific)
            Thursday: Heptathlon, 10 a.m.
            Friday: Heptathlon, 10 a.m.; men's 800 prelims, 5:15 p.m.
            Saturday: Women's javelin, 12:50 p.m.; women's high jump, 2:30 p.m.;
                               men's 800 finals, 6:05 p.m.
            Live results        Live Webcast: See 'Follow it Live' below


        Weekly release, with updated performance lists (PDF)
        NCAA Championships home page

SEATTLE – Three for the show.
 
That's what the Seattle Pacific Falcons will have as they head to Colorado for this week's NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
 
The three-day nationals are set for Thursday through Saturday at the Neta and Eddie DeRose ThunderBowl on the campus of Colorado State University-Pueblo, and SPU will have a presence all three days.
 
On Thursday, senior Ali Worthen (Coos Bay, Ore.) will compete in the first four events of the women's heptathlon beginning at 10 a.m. Pacific. The final three events start Friday morning at 10. She is seeded No. 4. Worthen also is in the women's high jump on Saturday as the No. 20 seed. That begins at 2:30 p.m. PDT.
 
Also on Friday, junior Nate Seely (Lynden, Wash./Lynden HS) will run in the preliminaries of the men's 800 meters at 5:15 p.m. Pacific. If he is among the top two in his heat, or among the five fastest outside of the top two in either of the two heats, he will advance to Saturday's finals at 6:05 p.m. Seely, in his first and likely only national appearance, comes in as the No. 8 seed.
 
Much earlier on Saturday, senior Brittany Aanstad (Lake Stevens, Wash./Lake Stevens HS) will begin the women's javelin at 12:50 p.m. as the No. 1 seed. She is coming off of a second-place finish in 2011.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Fans will be able to follow the action all three days from the ThunderBowl. Live results are expected to be available from the first event to the last by clicking on this link.
 
Live Webcasts also will be available all three days, although not from start to finish. On Thursday, the Webcast is scheduled for a 3:45 p.m. PDT start on this link. On Friday, it starts at 4:25 p.m. on this link, and on Saturday, it's a 4:05 p.m. start on this link. Given the scheduled start times, the focus of the Webcast very likely will be on the running events.
 
IT'LL BE SIZZLIN'
In a word: hot. That's the weather awaiting the Falcons in Colorado. The Seattle Pacific contingent arrived on Tuesday to temperatures in the mid 80s. After an expected high of 95 on Wednesday, the forecast calls for cooling (such as it were) to the low 80s on Thursday, then back to the upper 80s on Friday and the low 90s on Saturday.
                                                                               
HELLO-O-O UP THERE
This isn't the Mile High City of Denver, but it's close. Pueblo's elevation is pegged at between 4,650 and 4,700 feet, depending on which reference one checks.
 
SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
Seattle Pacific head coach Karl Lerum says:
 
On his athletes competing at NCAAs: “They all have their journeys that they've taken. None of them just showed up and qualified on a runner. They've all overcome some pretty significant injuries – Ali and Brittany, especially.”
On Brittany Aanstad in the javelin: “Brittany is certainly a wiser athlete after coming through last year's competition. I think she has a very keen understanding of the javelin. She's not just doing it off of athletic ability. Her workouts this last week have been some of the best of her career. She has the feel – she can go in there and relax.”
On Ali Worthen in the heptathlon: Lindsay Lettow (the defending champion from Central Missouri) is having a phenomenal year, so Ali's job is to worry about Ali. All multi-event athletes should have that mindset, anyway. Ali has had some really good workouts, especially in the jav. I do think she can stack 150-200 points on to her conference score (of 5,199).”
On Nate Seely in the 800: “Nate has put in a lot of years of work and has shown that he has it. It was exciting to see him put it together at conference. He can't hold back much. He's a great racer, but he has to make sure he's in the thing. He's gotta go for it.”
 
SCOUTING THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
For the second year in a row, senior Brittany Aanstad comes to the national meet as the top seed in the women's javelin. This time, it's with her PR mark of 161 feet, 11 inches at the War V meet in Spokane on April 7. Very close behind her is sophomore Makayla McPhail of Fort Hays State (Kansas) at 159-4 – the exact same mark that Aanstad brought to last year's NCAAs. Lurking near them is Western Oregon sophomore Amanda Schumaker at 158-10½ . Schumaker beat out Aanstad on May 11 at the GNAC Championships in Monmouth, Ore., 154-1 to 144-6.
 
The difference between No. 1 and No. 2 is almost the same as in 2011. Last year, Aanstad came in 3 feet, 3 inches better than Western Washington's Monika Gruszecki, who eventually would win the title at 164-3 while Aanstad settled for second at 151-1. This time, Aanstad's margin over McPhail is 3 feet, ½ inch.
 
While Central Missouri senior Lindsay Lettow is the overwhelming favorite to win the women's heptathlon, Seattle Pacific's Ali Worthen is in prime position to grab one of the top three medals. Lettow comes in with a top-seeded total of 5,703 points – 340 more than second-seeded sophomore teammate Erin Alewine. Worthen is at 5,199 from her GNAC victory, well within striking range of third-seeded Cheryl Bourne of Ashland (Ohio). Bourne has scored, 5,335.
 
Lettow won last year with 5,514 points, and Alewine was third with 5,133.
 
Worthen certainly has room to add to her score. At the GNAC Multi-Event finals on April 30-May 1 at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, she set personal-best marks in five of the seven events, three of which (200 meters, 100 hurdles and javelin) she has erased since then with even better marks. The two events in which she didn't PR in that meet  – the high jump and long jump – happen to be two of her stronger suits.
 
Worthen also was accepted into the high jump field as the 20^th and final entry, based on her PR of 5 feet, 7 ¾ inches at the Sam Adams Multi-Events in Santa Barbara, Calif., on April 2. Sophomore Barbara Szabo of Western State (Colo.) is the top seed at 5-11 ¼.
 
For Nate Seely in the men's 800, there's no room to hold back on the first day. The top two seeds – junior Aduo Omot of Augustana (S.D.) and freshman Boris Berian of Adams State (Colo.) are clearly in front at 1:48.51 and 1:48.93, respectively.

The other 14 runners in the 16-runner field, including SPU junior Seely, are separated by less than a second: 1:50.36 for co-No. 3 seeds Matthew Shaffer of Anderson (S.C.) and Drew Windle of Ashland to 1:51.12 for No. 16 Jermaine Blake of Lincoln (Mo.). Seely is tucked right in the middle of that group as the No. 8 seed at 1:50.61. The top two finishers in each of the two preliminary heats, then the next five fastest overall times will make Saturday's nine-man finals.
 
BACK IN THE MEN'S PICTURE
When junior Nate Seely steps to the starting line for the 800-meter preliminaries on Friday, he'll be the first Seattle Pacific man to take part in the NCAA meet since 2007. The last time the Falcons had a representative on the men's side was Eddie Strickler in 2007 at Charlotte, N.C. Strickler also ran the 800 and placed ninth in 1 minute, 50.59 seconds. That time was just .02 faster than Seely's entry time of 1:50.61.
 
WORTHEN PILES UP THE POINTS
Sure, senior Ali Worthen is coming into the NCAA heptathlon off a personal-best score of 5,199 points that gave her the GNAC championship for the second year in a row. But it's not just in this one event in which Worthen is a prolific scorer.
 
With the hep winding up 10 days before the start of the championship meet proper, Worthen had the opportunity to enter five more events: the 200-meter dash, 100-meter hurdles, long jump, high jump, and 4x100 relay. She ran the anchor leg on the victorious relay to help give SPU 10 team points. In the four individual events, she was second in the high jump (8 points), second in the 100 hurdles (8 points), fifth in the 200 (4 points) and fifth in the long jump (4 points). Along with her 10 points for winning the hep, Worthen personally accounted for 34 of SPU's 188 points. She has 83 for her career.
 
In February's GNAC indoor meet, Worthen scored 38 by herself to wind up with 110 for her career. She was the first athlete – male or female – to top 100 points indoors at conference.
 
AND SHE'S NOT DONE YET
Worthen has been referred to as a senior all year, and technically, that's correct. She'll receive her undergraduate degree in June, and has completed her athletic eligibility for indoor track.
 
But because of an injury that wiped out almost her entire sophomore outdoor season in 2010, she has one year of outdoor eligibility remaining. Worthen has said that she does plan to return to SPU to use that final season of eligibility.
 
BUT THIS IS PROBABLY IT FOR SEELY
On the other hand, Nate Seely is just a junior both academically and athletically. He, however, has indicated that he probably won't compete in 2013 because he will be student-teaching and wants to focus his attention on that endeavor.  He hasn't ruled it out entirely, though, saying he'll see how things are going before making a firm decision.
 
NO SHORTAGE OF QUALIFIERS
Although Brittany Aanstad, Ali Worthen and Nate Seely are the only three Falcons who made the cut for nationals, SPU posted 19 qualifying marks altogether this season, spread among 15 athletes (11 women, four men). Worthen had four of them by herself, with an automatic in the heptathlon and provisionals on the high jump (she'll be competing in that one), long jump and 100 hurdles.
 
Also with multiple provisional marks were senior Myisha Valentine (400, 4x100 relay), junior Katy Gross (javelin, heptathlon) and sophomore McKayla Fricker (800, 4x100 relay).
 
DRAMATIC GNAC FINISH
The Falcons women won just four of the 21 events, but their depth came up big, producing 148 points for places other than first, sparking a come-from-behind effort to edge meet favorite Alaska Anchorage for the GNAC championship, 188-183, on May 11-12 at Western Oregon University's McArthur Field in Monmouth. SPU's four winners were Ali Worthen (heptathlon), McKayla Fricker (800) and both the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. The team title was SPU's third straight.
 
Seattle Pacific finished seventh in the men's meet with 37 points.
 
LAST YEAR AT NCAAs
The Falcons had seven competitors at last year's NCAA D-2 Championships in Turlock, Calif., all in the women's meet.
-- Brittany Aanstad finished second in the javelin at 151-1.
-- Carly Andrews was third in the javelin at 144-9                
-- Katy Gross was 13^th in the heptathlon with 4,782 points.
-- Melissa Peaslee was 12^th in the pole vault at 12-0 ½.
-- Terra Schumacher was 14^th in the pole vault at 11-8 ½.
-- Crystal Sims was 12^th in the heptathlon with 4,837 points.
-- Ali Worthen was sixth in the heptathlon with 5,044 points, and 17^th in the long jump at 17-1.
 
Peaslee and Sims graduated. Andrews, Gross, and Schumacher were NCAA provisional qualifiers this spring.
 
BEST IN THE WEST
All three of Seattle Pacific's NCAA participants were among the eight Falcons who were accorded All-West Region honors by the USTFCCCA: Nate Seely in the 800, Brittany Aanstad in the javelin, and Ali Worthen in the heptathlon and high jump.
 
Worthen also made All-Region in the 100 hurdles and long jump. Other Falcons earning the award, which is given to the top five in each individual event, were AJ Baker (steeplechase), Nate Johnson (decathlon), McKayla Fricker (800), Katy Gross (heptathlon), and Terra Schumacher (pole vault).
 
SMARTY PANTS
Led by senior three-time honorees Natty Plunkett, Natalie Nobbs, Brittany Tri and Ali Worthen, Seattle Pacific placed 14 athletes on the Great Northwest Athletic Conference All-Academic team.
 
Worthen, one of the Falcons' three athletes at the NCAA championships, has a 3.43 grade-point average as an exercise science major.
 
Plunkett (Bellevue, Wash./Newport HS) is completing her first full year of grad school and had a perfect 4.0 GPA after compiling a 3.96 in undergrad studies. Nobbs (Yakima, Wash./Riverside Christian HS) has a 3.58 in exercise science, and Tri (Lake Stevens, Wash./Lake Stevens HS) sports a 3.55 in accounting.
                                                                                                                                 
NCAA participant Nate Seely, a junior, also made the list with his 3.86 GPA as an English major.
 
Other SPU women on the list were seniors Josie Becker and Heidi Laabs-Johnson, juniors Katy Gross and Katie Thralls, and sophomores Alli Cutting and Robyn Zeidler. Other Falcons men making the grade were juniors AJ Baker, Will Harrison and Jordan Wolfe.
 
In addition to their outstanding classroom work, Plunkett (10,000 meters), Gross (heptathlon, javelin), Zeidler (3,000 steeplechase) and Baker (steeplechase) all posted NCAA provisional qualifying marks this season.
 
POLLING PLACE
Seattle Pacific's women remained No. 25 in the latest USTFCCA national rankings, which were released on May 16. The Falcons have 42.42 points in the rankings. Grand Valley State (Mich.) stayed No. 1 with 286.60 points.
 
SPU wound up at No. 5 in the final West Region rankings with 299.51 points. That was a climb of one spot from the previous list. Alaska Anchorage edged past Grand Canyon for the top spot, but by the slimmest of margins: 377.57 points to 376.84.