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SEATTLE -- It's only January and the first meet of the indoor track season.

But the Seattle Pacific Falcons already are making plans for March and the last meet of the season.

SPU's women's distance medley relay team of Jane Larson, Crystal Sims, Lisa Anderberg and Jessica Pixler won that 4,000-meter event and earned an NCAA Division II automatic qualifying time at the UW Indoor Preview on Saturday afternoon.

Racing around the 307-meter track at the Dempsey Indoor facility on the University of Washington campus, the Falcon foursome stopped the clock in a school-record time of 11 minutes, 32.23 seconds. That was well below the 11:47.90 automatic qualifying standard.

“That was our goal was to get the automatic qualifying mark,” Falcons head coach Karl Lerum said. “That was an outstanding first effort for Jessica on the track after coming down from the cross country distance. Lisa looked great, Jane had a strong start for us, and it was fun to see Crystal in her first event as an SPU athlete.

“We're obviously pleased,” Lerum added. “But we've almost come to expect that from this bunch.”

One of the newest members of the Falcons also set herself up for a possible NCAA trip. Freshman Amanda Alvarez (Vancouver, Wash./Columbia River HS) placed fifth overall in the triple jump with a leap of 37 feet, 6 inches (11.43 meters). That is good for provisional qualifying status.

In the distance medley relay, senior Larson (Fall City, Wash./Cedar Park Christian HS) led off with the 1,200-meter leg, followed by junior newcomer Sims (Portland, Ore.) for the 400, senior Anderberg (Edmonds, Wash./Kamiak HS) for the 800, and senior Pixler (Sammamish, Wash./Eastlake HS) for the 1,600.

Larson had the lead after the first leg, Sims and Anderberg held steady in third behind two Stanford teams in the middle legs, then Pixler surged to the front early on the anchor leg and crossed the line nearly 12 seconds in front of Stanford's top team.

“The times Erika had figured out for us would have put us just under (the standard),” Larson said. “But each of us figured out what we wanted to run. That's either the fastest I've run for 1,200, or close to it. And it felt real relaxed at the start, so I felt like I had some left.”

SPU's time easily beat the old school record of 11:38.24, set by Larson, Latasha Essien, Anderberg and Pixler in 2008. It also would have been fast enough to place second in last year's NCAAs. The winning time at last winter's D-2 nationals was 11:24.54 by Shippensburg.

This year's nationals are set for March 12-13 in Albuquerque, N.M.

“It was a nice low-pressure way to start the season,” Larson said. “It's great to have this already taken care of.”

Falcon junior Jenifer Pike (Vancouver, Wash./Skyview HS) won her heat of the 400 meters and had the eight-best overall time of 1:00.20. Terra Schumacher (Sublimity, Ore.), a highly regarded junior who transferred to SPU this year from Mount Hood Community College, debuted with a 14th-place overall finish in the 60-meter hurdles (9.43) and tied teammate and NCAA pole vault veteran Melissa Peaslee (Fox Island, Wash./Gig Harbor HS) for 12th in the pole vault at 11-1.

Brittany Aanstad had her first collegiate competition since the 2008 Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships, when she suffered an elbow injury that eventually resulted in surgery to replace a ligament. Aanstad finished ninth in the high jump at 5-4¼, and took 19th overall in the long jump at 16-9¼.

Aanstad was one of four Seattle Pacific long jumpers who finished in the top 25. Freshman Trinna Miranda (Tigard, Ore.) placed 17th at 16 feet, 10 inches; freshman Kelly Jenkins (Hillsboro, Ore.) was 21st at 16-4½, and sophomore Natalie Nobbs (Yakima, Wash./Riverside Christian) was 22nd at 16-1¾.

Freshman Athena Alvarez (both Vancouver, Wash./Columbia River HS), who is Amanda's sister, placed 10th in the triple jump, going 36-1. In fact, of the 21 triple jump placers, the Falcons had five -- all of them freshmen. In addition to the Alvarez sisters, Jenkins was 13th at 35-6¾, Katy Gross (Everett, Wash./Cascade HS) was 15th at 34-11, and Kira Lewis tied for 16th at 34-5.

“Our triple jumpers were a fun group to watch -- and they're all going to get better,” Lerum said.

Carly Dockendorf, currently an SPU assistant track coach and formerly an assistant gymnastics coach, tied for first place in the pole vault. Competing unattached, Dockendorf cleared 14 feet, 1¼ inches.

The next meet for the Falcons is the UW Invitational on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 29-30, at Dempsey Indoor.



NCAA Women's Track
UW Indoor Preview
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Dempsey Indoor/Seattle, Wash.

Team scores -- None.

60 meters -- 1, Ashton Purvis (Eoydc Track) 7.43. SPU placer -- 43, Emily Quatier 8.27.
200 -- 1, Purvis (Eoydc Track) 23.86. SPU placers -- 30, Chrystal Sims 26.82; 42, Quatier 27.25; 61, Natalie Nobbs 28.16.
400 -- 1, Morgan Uceny (Reebok)56.46. SPU placers -- 8, Jenifer Pike 1:00.20*; 23, Nobbs 1:03.30.
600 -- 1, Helen Crofts (Simon Fraser) 1:30.86. No SPU competitors.
800 -- 1, Anne Kesselring (Oregon) 2:07.25. No SPU competitors.
Mile -- 1, Uceny (Reebok) 4:39.10. No SPU competitors.
3000 -- 1, Julia Howard (Valley Royal) 9:29.75. No SPU competitors.
60 hurdles -- 1, Trinity Wilson (Eoydc Track) 8.49. SPU placers -- 14, Terra Schumacher 9.43, 20, Pike 9.60.
4x400 relay -- 1, Oregon 'B' 3:47.83. 10, SPU (Lisa Anderberg, Jane Larson, Kelsey Brown, Kira Lewis) 4:09.36.
Distance medley -- 1, Seattle Pacific (Larson, Sims, Anderbrg, Jessica Pixler) 11:32.23.
High jump -- 1, Amber Kaufman (Hawaii) 6-1 1/2 (1.87m). SPU placers -- 9, Brittany Aanstad 5-4 1/4 (1.63m); 22 (tie) Katy Gross and Jacquie Mattson 5-0 1/4 (1.53m).
Pole vault -- 1, (tie) Carly Dockendorf (Unattached) and Melissa Gergel (Oregon) 14-1 1/4 (4.30m). SPU placers -- 12, (tie) Melissa Peaslee and Schumacher 11-1 (3.38m).
Long jump -- 1, Amirah Karim (Portland State) 18-4 1/2 (5.60m). SPU placers -- 17, Trinna Miranda 16-10 (5.13m); 19, Aanstad 16-9 1/4 (5.11m); 21, Kelly Jenkins 16-7 (5.05m); 22, (tie) Natalie Nobbs 16-4 1/2 (4.99m); 27, Katy Gross 16-1 3/4 (4.92m).
Triple jump -- 1, Shaniae Lakes (Washington) 39-9 3/4 (12.13m). SPU placers -- 5, Amanda Alvarez 37-6 (11.43m); 10, Athena Alvarez 36-1 1/4 (11.00m); 13, Jenkins 35-6 3/4 (10.84m); 15, Gross 34-11 (10.64m); 16, (tie) Lewis 34-5 (10.49m).
Shot put -- 1, Rita Santibanez (Oregon) 44-10 1/4 (13.67m). No SPU competitors.
Weight throw -- Caress Sims (Unattached) 61-11 1/2 (18.88m). No SPU competitors.

* won individual heat