THE SCHEDULE:               Seattle Pacific at Emilie Mondor Invitational
                                                Saturday, April 8, 2017
                                                Field events 9:00 a.m.; track events 10:30 a.m.
                                                Terry Fox Field / Burnaby, B.C.
                                                No live Webcast or live results
 
 
        Weekly release, with updated season lists (PDF)
        Emilie Mondor Invitational home page (HTML)
        Emilie Mondor Invitational schedule (PDF)

SEATTLE – For the third year in a row, the Seattle Pacific Falcons get to add a bit of international flavor to their outdoor track and field schedule.
 
The Falcons will cross the border into Canada on Saturday for the sixth annual Emilie Mondor Invitational. Competition takes place at Terry Fox Field on the Simon Fraser University campus.
 
Field events get the day started at 9:00 a.m. Track races get going at 10:30. The last event is scheduled for 3:55 p.m.
 
SPU will be one of three Great Northwest Athletic Conference teams in Burnaby, joined by the host Clan, along with Western Washington. Several clubs, along with the University of British Columbia, also are entered.
 
This will be the first full-on meeting between Seattle Pacific and Simon Fraser since February, when the Falcons hung on to win the GNAC indoor title by 3½ points – the closest margin in conference history.
 
DIFFERENT COUNTRY, SAME WEATHER
Apparently, it doesn't matter on which side of the border the Falcons compete when it comes to finding decent weather. What so far has been a cool, wet spring is expected to continue through the rest of the week. Saturday's forecast for Burnaby calls for cloudy with occasional rain and drizzle. Highs are barely expected to push into the lower 50s (that's 12 if your measuring in metric, as they do in Canada). It could be rather breezy, as well.
 
DON'T FORGET YOUR IDENTIFICATION
Parents or others planning to make the trip to Burnaby are reminded that either a valid passport or Washington state enhanced driver's license are necessary to cross the border. A standard driver's license is not considered acceptable proof of citizenship. More information about crossing the border is available by clicking on this link.
 
SOME CLIMBING TO DO
Depending on how Seattle Pacific and Simon Fraser set their lineups, it will be a chance for the two teams to see how they stack up against each other, with the GNAC meet coming up in just five weeks.
 
A month of the outdoor season is now in the books, the Clan are a slight early favorite to claim the conference crown next month. Based on results in the national data system, Simon Fraser would be seeded for 155 points, slightly more than Alaska Anchorage's 146½.
 
SPU is next, seeded for 115, then it's Central Washington with 101. Last year, the Wildcats made a Saturday surge to get within striking distance before the Falcons won by a scant five points, 145½ to 140½.
 
Seattle Pacific has the most top-8 slots among the contenders, with 30. Simon and Anchorage each have 25 slots, and Central has 23. Of those 25 for the Clan, six are top seeds, which are worth 10 points apiece. Anchorage has five top seeds, SPU has one (Mary Charleson in the 5,000), and Central has one. Western Washington also has five No. 1 seeds, and is slated for 94 points.
 




SCOUTING THE EMILIE MONDOR INVITATIONAL
If at least some of the leading runners from each school enter it, the women's 1,500 meters could be the equivalent of a GNAC Championships preview. The potential is there to have 10 of the top 11 on conference list. That would include Nos. 1, 2, 4, and 5-ranked Addy Townsend, Julia Howley, Paige Nock, and Miryam Bassett of Simon Fraser, No. 6 Brittany Grant of Western Washington, and Nos. 7 and 8 Mary Charleson and Kate Lilly of SPU. The entry times for those seven range from 4:28.36 (Townsend) to 4:36.84 (Lilly).
 
Regardless of the order of finish, it's possible for all of them to make a move up the NCAA ladder. The race is scheduled for 12 noon.
 
In the women's 400, senior Cheryl Hong and freshman Lani Taylor are entered for the Falcons. Hong is tied for the sixth-best time in the GNAC at 56.67; Taylor is No. 8 at 57.18. Simon Fraser has Nos. 1 and 3 on the conference list with Chantel Desch (55.48) and Sophie Dodd (56.31), although whether either of them runs that race on Saturday remains to be seen.
 
Freshman Scout Cai will focus on throwing this week, specifically the two events that are part of the heptathlon: shot put and javelin.
 
After a solid debut in the 400-meter hurdles last week (1:04.32), freshman Brooke Benner will do that race again, along with the 100 hurdles and the triple jump. Sophomore Emma Lambert is back in the 400 hurdles, as well, looking to get into that 1:03 range after last Saturday's 1:04.79.
 
Sophomore Geneva Lehnert still needs her NCAA provisional mark in the high jump, and will try again on Saturday. She and senior Kyra Brannan are both in the long jump and 200. In fact, the 200 is looming large for SPU, with Taylor, Hong, junior Becca Houk, and freshman Olivia Gabriel also entered.
 
It was on this oval last spring where Justin Ramsey broke 50 seconds in the 400 meters for the first time, stopping the watch in 49.86. He got another sub-50 at GNAC (49.92), and last week came as close to it as he has since then, logging a 50.26 at the JD Shotwell Invitational.
 
Junior Ben Halladay has had back-to-back strong meets, posting a career-best 4:03.33 in the 1,500 on April 28 at West Seattle Stadium, then clocking 15:09 in his first college 5,000 last Friday at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival. No 5K this week, but Halladay is entered in the 15.
 




A DANDY DOZEN FOR FALCON MEN
Now that they're a few weeks into the season, the Seattle Pacific men are starting to see some rewards for their training. They posted 12 season-best marks last Saturday at the JD Shotwell Invitational in Tacoma.

 

Freshman sprinters David Choi (Bellevue, Wash./ Newport HS) and Christian Wong (Renton, Wash. / Liberty HS) each had two of those, in the 100 and the 200. Choi went 11.81 in the 100 (his first time under 12) and 24.20 in the 200. Wong clocked 12.03 in the 100 and 25.09 in the 200. Senior David McLeod posted two, as well, getting his in the 200 (24.26) and 400 (53.84).
 
Choi also ran on the 4x100 relay that set a season-best by more than a full second. He, Shayne Carpenter, Justin Ramsey, and Peyton Harris, came through in 44.04 seconds. On the same Baker Stadium track in the season-opening meet on March 4, that foursome clocked 45.38.
 
SOME DANDY DEBUTS, TOO
A handful of Falcons competed in various events for the first time as collegians last week, and came up with some solid results.
 
At the San Francisco State Distance Carnival, freshman Alyssa Foote (Beaverton, Ore.) ran her initial 5,000 meters, and completed the 12½ laps in 17 minutes, 36.59 seconds. Not only does that have her ranked No. 6 in the conference, it's within reach of the 17:30 she needs to qualify for this summer's USA Track & Field Junior Nationals.
 
In that same meet, Ben Halladay ran the 5K for the first time, coming across the line in 15:09.70. Halladay (Mukilteo, Wash. / Kamiak HS) potentially could contend for a top-8 spot at GNAC.
 
 

At the JD Shotwell Invitational in Tacoma, freshman Brooke Benner did the 400 hurdles for the first time, finishing in 1:04.32, a time that has her ranked No. 8 among conference competitors. She also triple jumped for the first time this season, finishing at 36 feet even. She was second in the GNAC indoor triple, and that event also was a successful part of her career at Naches Valley High School in Eastern Washington. Benner placed second at state as a senior and third as a junior.


 
HONG MAKES IT 3 FOR 3
Senior sprinter Cheryl Hong is now a GNAC automatic qualifier in all three sprints.

 

Hong completed the triple last Saturday in Tacoma when she ran a career-best 12.41 in the 100-meter dash. That bettered her previous best by a full two-tenths, and she did it essentially running by herself, as she was well out in front of her heat.
 
At the Hornet Invitational in Sacramento on March 18, Hong posted her GNAC automatic times in the 200 (25.56) and 400 (56.67). She also has been part of Seattle Pacific's two fastest relays this spring, running the second leg on both the 4x100 (47.64) and the 4x400 (3:49.62) in Sacramento.
 
Coming into the week, Hong ranks No. 6 in the 100, co-No. 6 in the 400, and co-No. 10 in the 200 among GNAC sprinters.
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
The Falcons have posted five NCAA Division II provisional qualifying marks. Here's where they rank heading into the week:
 
Scout Cai: 7th in heptathlon, 4,781 points
Mary Charleson: 22nd in 1,500 meters, 4:33.58
                             Tie 10th in 5,000 meters, 16:59.29
Sammi Markham: 16th in javelin, 139-0 / 42.36m
Chynna Phan: 23rd in 800 meters, 2:12.94

Click on this link to see how the Falcons stack up against other GNAC athletes. Click on this link to see a list of Division II national leaders.

AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for a look at news, notes, results, and leaders from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
 
UP NEXT
Seattle Pacific takes its annual trip to Southern California next week for competition at the Bryan Clay Invitational and the Beach Invitational. The Clay is set for Thursday and Friday, April 13 and 14, at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa. The Beach is on Saturday the 15th at Long Beach State.
 
After that, the Falcons will stay in Washington for the rest of the regular season. The first of those in-state meets is Saturday, April 22, at the Spike Arlt Invitational on the Central Washington campus in Ellensburg.