THE SCHEDULE:     Seattle Pacific at NCAA Division II Championships
                                   Friday-Saturday, March 14-15, 2014
                                  JDL Fast Track / Winston-Salem, N.C.                
                                   Friday: First events 6 a.m.; women's 800 prelims, 1:50 p.m.
                                  Saturday: First events 6 a.m.; women's 800 finals, 2:10 p.m.
                                 All times PDT
                                  Live Webcast        Live results        
 
 
        Weekly release, with complete updated lists (PDF)
        Heat sheets for Friday's preliminaries (PDF)
        Meet schedule (PDF)
        Meet home page (PDF)        
 
SEATTLE – McKayla Fricker and Lynelle Decker won't be surrounded by teammates as they were last year in Alabama. Or even last month in Idaho.
 
But the two Seattle Pacific distance runners will have each other this week in North Carolina.
 
Fricker and Decker both will race in the 800 meters when they step onto to the JDL Fast Track overall at Winston-Salem State University for the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships. The preliminaries are set for Friday at 1:50 p.m. PDT, with the finals on Saturday afternoon at 2:10 Pacific.
 
Falcons senior Fricker (Canby, Ore.) is a bona fide contender for the championship. She comes in as the No. 4 seed, but she and the three runners ahead of her are all bunched within one second of each other.
 
Sophomore Decker (Vancouver, Wash. / Mountain View HS) is the No. 12 seed, and will be seeking to post one of the eight fastest times to earn a spot in Saturday's final.
 
WATCH IT LIVE
Live video streaming will be offered both days of the meet. The appropriate link can be found at the top of this story. Live results also will be posted, and that link also is at the top of this story.
 




FRICKER VS. SAWATZKY: WHOSE TURN IS IT THIS TIME?
SPU's McKayla Fricker and Simon Fraser's Sarah Sawatzky have been going back and forth all season in the 800.
 
Sawatzky was the early-season national leader with a 2:10.93 that she posted on Jan. 18 at the UW Indoor Preview. Fricker didn't run the 800 that day, but did run it two weeks later in the UW Invitational, and took over the No. 1 spot with a 2:09.04. Sawatzky, running in the same heat, went 2:12.09/
 
They met again in the 800 finals at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships on Feb. 22 in Nampa, Idaho. Sawatzky ran aggressively from the start and came across the line in 2:08.57, while Fricker clocked 2:10.59.
 
While Fricker heads to nationals as the No. 4 seed, Sawatzky is No. 2.
 
SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
McKAYLA FRICKER
(On her strategy for the weekend)
"Going into prelims I've obviously got to race it like it's a finals. I have to be very aware of the competitors around me and where I'm placing myself in the first half of the race and be ready for any moves that any moves that anyone is going to be doing. Hopefully heading into finals, it's the same thing, and just racing as hard as I can."
 
LYNELLE DECKER
(On whether she's more or less nervous than last year)
"I think the amount of nerves is about the same. It's still a big meet and still a big competition. It was a little bit harder to get in this year, so I know it's going to be faster. I'm more excited because I know what to expect  and I know the atmosphere of a national indoor meet."
 
SCOUTING THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
A total of 17 athletes were accepted for the 800, and Friday's prelimis will be divided into three heats.
 
McKayla Fricker, seeded No. 4, will be in the second heat with third-seeded Marissa Bongers of Nebraska Kearney. Fricker's entry time is 2:10.53, converted from the 2:09.04 she ran on Feb. 1 at the UW Invitational. Bongers comes in at 2:10.17, which was converted from the 2:08.69 she posted on Feb. 7 at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational in Lincoln, Neb. All six runners in this heat are seniors.
 
Lynelle Decker, seeded 12^th, is one of three sophomores in the five-runner third and final heat. She come in with a 2:13.49, converted from her personal-best time of 2:11.97 that she ran on March 1 in the Seattle Pacific Final Qualifier. Decker's heat includes top-seeded Shawnee Carnett of Concord (W.V.). Carnett's time is 2:09.52, converted from the 2:08.04 she posted in the Armory Collegiate Invitational on Feb. 7 in New York, N.Y.
 
Second-seeded Sarah Sawatzky of SPU conference rival Simon Fraser is in the opening heat. Her entry time is 2:10.05, a conversion from the 2:08.57 she ran in winning the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship on Feb. 22 in Nampa, Idaho. Fricker, having won the mile earlier that day, was second in 2:10.59.
 
Each of the three heat winners on Friday will advance to Saturday's finals. The next five fastest runners will round out the field.
 
FRICKER CAN JOIN SOME FAST COMPANY
As one of four runners within one second of each other at the top of the 800-meter qualifying list, Fricker has a legitimate shot at winning a national title this weekend.
 
If she does, she will be Seattle Pacific's first national indoor champion since 2010, when Jessica Pixler won the last of her four consecutive mile titles, and the 4,000 distance medley relay team of Jane Larson, Jenifer Pike, Lisa Anderberg, and Pixler also won.
 
Pixler also captured the 5,000-meter title in 2009. Danielle Ayers-Stamper was the high jump champion in 2005; Karin Grelsson won back-to-back triple jump titles in 1993 and 1994, and Mike Olson won the men's shot put in 1993.
 
10 FALCONS AMONG THE BEST IN THE WEST
A total of 10 Seattle Pacific athletes spread over 11 different events earned have earned All-Region status from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
 
Senior sprinter Kishia Mitchell led the way with four awards: the 60-meter dash, 200, 400, and 4x400 relay. McKayla Fricker had three (800, mile, and 4x400 relay). Other multiple winners were junior Tasia Baldwin (200, 4x400 relay) and sophomore Lynelle Decker (800, mile).
 
Picking up one award apiece were senior men's miler Seth Pierson, freshman long jumper Kyra Brannan, freshman pentathlete Maddi Hommes, junior 4x400 relay runner Jasmine Johnson, freshman shot putter Sammi Markham, and sophomore 5,000-meter runner Anna Patti.
 
All-Region status is accorded to the top five in individual events, and to the runners on the top three relays.
 
ALSO ON THE HONOR ROLL
-- Tasia Baldwin: All-GNAC 200, 4x400 relay; GNAC Athlete of the Week (March 3)
-- Kyra Brannan: All-GNAC long jump
-- McKayla Fricker: All-GNAC 800, mile, 4x400 relay; GNAC Athlete of the Week (Feb. 3, March 3)
-- Maddi Hommes: All-GNAC pentathlon
-- Jasmine Johnson: All-GNAC 4x400 relay; GNAC Athlete of the Week (March 3)
-- Kishia Mitchell: All-GNAC 200, 400, 4x400 relay; GNAC Athlete of the Week (March 3)

AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for news, notes, and results from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
 
UP NEXT
As the indoor season ends, the outdoor season resumes on Saturday, March 22 at the Oregon Preview in Eugene. Field and running events both begin at 12:35 p.m.
 
The Falcons will  have five other meets between now and May that are either in Seattle or just a short Interstate 5 drive away.
 
The first of those is the Club Northwest Spring Break Open at West Seattle Stadium on Saturday, March 29. They'll be at the University of Puget Sound's Baker Stadium in Tacoma for the JD Shotwell Invitational on Saturday, April 5, and will visit Husky Track at the University of Washington for the Washington Open on Saturday, April 12.
 
The Ralph Vernacchia Invitational at Bellingham's Civic Stadium is set for Saturday, April, 26. The regular-season finale is the Saint Martin's Invitational in Lacey on Saturday, May 3.