THE SCHEDULE: Seattle Pacific at NCAA Championships
Friday, March 12, 8 a.m. PST/
Saturday, March 13, 8 a.m. PST
Albuquerque Convention Center/Albuquerque, N.M.
Live video on this link. Live results on this link.
Weekly release (PDF)
NCAA indoor championships schedule
NCAA entry list
NCAA D-2 Championship Central
SEATTLE -- One runner is going for No. 4. And four runners are going for No. 1.
In a nutshell, that's the focus for a small but speedy group of Seattle Pacific Falcons who are headed to New Mexico for this weekend's NCAA Division II indoor track championships at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
SPU is sending five athletes -- all runners -- to the nationals. Their sights will be set on just two events: the mile and the 4,000-meter distance medley relay.
Senior Jessica Pixler (Sammamish, Wash./Eastlake HS) will be seeking her fourth consecutive crown in the mile. And with a 15-second advantage over the next-closest entrant, she is the overwhelming favorite to win it again.
That race also will feature two other seniors who have earned their stripes -- and then some -- as part of SPU's talented distance running crew. Jane Larson (Fall City, Wash./Cedar Park Christian HS) has been the mile runner-up to Pixler the past two years. Kate Harline (Orem, Utah) is making her first appearance at nationals.
Pixler and Larson will team up with fellow senior Lisa Anderberg (Edmonds, Wash./Kamiak HS) and junior Jennifer Pike (Vancouver, Wash./Skyview HS) in the distance medley.
The mile will have preliminary heats on Friday and finals on Saturday. The distance medley will be decided on Friday.
FOLLOW IT ONLINE
Fans not heading to Albuquerque will be able to keep up with the action on the Internet. Live video is available by clicking on this link. Live results are on this link. The mile prelims, featuring Jessica Pixler, Jane Larson and Kate Harline, are set for 3:20 p.m. PST on Friday, with finals at 2:30 p.m. PST Saturday. The distance medley, a finals-only event, is at 6:25 p.m. PST on Friday.
ONE LAST TIME
The distance medley relay offers three of SPU's premier runners -- -- a final opportunity to team up in pursuit of a shared goal, since the outdoor relays (4x100 and 4x400) are geared more toward sprinters such as Jennifer Pike, who will join this trio in the event.
“I'm so excited to see what our DMR team can do at nationals,” Larson said. “I think what makes us special is our ability to compete when the time comes. It's also special that Lisa, Jessica and I all get to run this race together as seniors and good friends. We want to look at it as a celebration of four amazing years and an act of praise for the Lord.”
Pike, one of Seattle Pacific's top hurdlers, brings her foot speed to this group that is more geared toward the longer races. But she said she the chemistry has been almost instant between all of them.
“I know that the three seniors have been together all four years, so they probably have more that bonds them together,” said Pike, who will be taking part in her first nationals. “But they're really easy to hang out with as far as me being the “outsider” fro the track crew and not the distance crew.
“I'm really excited for this weekend and my first nationals ever,” Pike added. “And honestly, I'm just honored to have the opportunity to run with these girls. I don't know if eight seconds (between top-seeded Shippensburg of Pennsylvania and No. 2-seeded SPU) is a big gap or not. But with all of us in there, it should be a close race.”
SCOUTING THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Jessica Pixler is not only more than 15 seconds ahead of No. 2 mile seed Alicia Nelson from Denver's Adams State, she's more than five seconds ahead of the NCAA Division II meet record. And that record -- 4:38.06 by Suzy Jones of UC Davis -- has stood since 1996.
If things go as expected and Pixler winds up racing the clock, some good racing figures to be going on behind her as Jane Larson tries to make it third consecutive 1-2 finish and combine with Pixler to put 18 team points on the board for Seattle Pacific. Larson comes in as the third seed behind Nelson. The Adams State runner has an entry time of 4:48.06; Larson is right behind at 4:48.75.
Kate Harline will be seeking to climb into the points for the Falcons. She is seeded 13th at 4:58.49. The eighth-seeded time is 4:54.76. The top eight from Friday's prelims return to run the finals Saturday evening.
The distance medley will match a couple of familiar rivals: Seattle Pacific and Shippensburg of Pennsylvania. It was two years ago when Shippensburg hosted the NCAA D-2 cross country championships. Pixler pulled away from Neely Spence, who was running on her home course, to claim the second of what would become three straight national XC titles. It's possible one could wind up chasing the other on the track this weekend with another national crown at stake. Shippensburg comes in with the top-seeded time of 11:25.16; the Falcons are second at 11:33.13.
Based on past results this season, Larson is expected to lead off with the 1,200-meter leg for SPU, followed by Jennifer Pike on the 400-meter leg, Lisa Anderberg on the 800 and Pixler on the anchor 1,600.
It will be the first time this particular Falcon unit has run in a meet. Larson, Anderberg and Pixler teamed with junior Crystal Sims (Portland, Ore.) in the season-opening UW Indoor Preview on to post a school and Great Northwest Athletic Conference record time of 11:32.23 at the Dempsey Indoor facility on the University of Washington campus. That time was adjusted to the 11:33.13, allowing for the difference in track lengths.
In order to focus on the relay, Pixler will not defend her championship in the 5,000 meters.
A FRIEND IN NEED, A FRIEND INDEED
It could have been a day off for Jessica Pixler. She was already set for the NCAAs and didn't the need SPU Last Chance meet on Feb. 27 at Dempsey Indoor to make a qualifying mark or improve on one that she already had.
But Kate Harline did need it. She was on the NCAA provisional list for the mile with a 4:59.71, her first sub-5:00 performance, which she had logged at the Husky Classic on Feb. 13. But she wanted to see if she could move up that list and give herself a better chance of getting into nationals.
So Pixler came to the meet and ran the role of “rabbit,” setting the pace for Harline to chase. Harline hit the wire in 4:58.09. Even with the adjustment to her official entry time of 4:58.49 to accommodate the different track length, it was fast enough to earn her a ticket to Albuquerque and a spot in the race. Her previous best of 4:59.71, which also would have been adjusted upward, would not have made the cut, as the 14th and final seed for nationals was a 4:58.48.
FALCON REPLAY: THE GNACs
They came in as the favorite and went home as the champion -- just as they've always done.
The Falcon women captured their seventh straight GNAC women's championship on Feb. 20 at Jackson's Track in Nampa, Idaho, racking up 179½ points to beat rival Western Washington by 20.
Senior Latasha Essien (Portland, Ore.) won the 60-meter dash for the fourth straight year, making her just the second GNAC athlete, male or female, to win the same event four years in a row. And she did it in 7.67 seconds, breaking her own meet record time of 7.73.
Jessica Pixler rewrote the conference meet records in the mile and the 800 meters, winning the former in 4:40.39, and taking the latter in 2:08.28.
SPU's distance medley relay of senior Kate Harline, Jennifer Pike, Jane Larson and Pixler won in 11:36.32. That was a whopping 22 seconds faster than the 11:58.41 record set by a Falcon team in 2007.
Falcon junior Melissa Peaslee (Fox Island, Wash./Gig Harbor HS) cleared 12 feet for the first time this season to win her second GNAC pole vault title, teaming with junior Terra Schumacher (Sublimity, Ore.) for a 1-2 finish. And sophomore Brittany Aanstad (Lake Stevens, Wash./Lake Stevens HS) led a 1-2-3 SPU finish in the high jump, clearing 5-3¼. Sophomore Alison Worthen (Coos Bay, Ore.) and freshman Katy Gross (Everett, Wash./Cascade HS) completed that sweep.
Seattle Pacific also picked up its first men's individual title since 2007 when freshman Nate Seely (Lynden, Wash./Lynden HS) won the 800 meters in 1:54.86. The Falcons wound up fifth in the men's standing with 39 points, a jump of one place and 28 point from 2009.
Pixler was named Female Athlete of the Meet, and finished her GNAC career with a conference record 76 points.
FALCON REPLAY: THE 2009 NCAAs
First, it was a three-peat in her trademark race. Then, Jessica Pixler went out and made it a title double at the last year's NCAA indoor championships in Houston.
Pixler took the lead just a few strides into the mile and led all the way, combining with Falcon teammate Jane Larson for a 1-2 finish for the second straight year. Pixler stopped the watches in 4 minutes 43.69 seconds at Yeoman Field House on the University of Houston campus. Larson came across the line in 4:48.87.
Then in the 5,000 meters, Pixler kicked it up a notch with eight laps and pulled away to win by nearly 11 seconds, clocking a 16:22.64. Larson was seventh in 17:04.01.
Falcon freshman Alison Worthen took fourth place in the high jump, clearing 5 feet, 7½ inches.
SPU finished sixth in the team standings with 35 points, just 2½ away from a team trophy.
POLLING PLACE
The SPU women are No. 9 in this week's NCAA Division II national rankings published by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. The Falcons dropped three spots from their previous No. 6 ranking, which was their highest of the winter.
Seattle Pacific is one of two GNAC schools in the national women's rankings. Western Washington checks in this week at No. 16 down one place from last week.
Lincoln of Missouri, the defending national champion, is No. 1.
ON THE HONOR ROLL
-- Jessica Pixler was named the West Region Women's Indoor Track Athlete of the Year, and Karl Lerum of the Falcons was named the West Region Coach of the Year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Lerum now has won the coaching award for four straight years.
-- Terra Schumacher was named the GNAC women's track Athlete of the Week for the week of Feb. 1-6. Schumacher won the pole vault at the Pilot Indoor by clearing 11 feet, 6 inches, and earning NCAA provisional qualifying status.
-- Jane Larson, Crystal Sims, Lisa Anderberg and Jessica Pixler were honored as the GNAC women's track Athletes of the Week for the week of Jan. 11-16 following their record-setting and NCAA-qualifying performance in the 4,000-meter distance medley relay at the UW Indoor Preview on Jan. 16.
-- Pixler also took home the Division II Indoor Track Scholar Athlete of the Year award from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association in 2009.
UP NEXT
With the indoor season winding up this weekend, the outdoor season will get into full swing next week. The Falcons will be on the road next Saturday, March 20, at the Oregon Preview in Eugene. Their next competition locally will be the JD Shotwell Invitational at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma on Saturday, April 3.
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for a look at news and notes from around the GNAC.
