THE SCHEDULE:      Seattle Pacific at NCAA Championships
                                    Thursday, May 27, 7:30 a.m. PST
                                    Friday, May 28, 7:00 a.m. PST
                                    Saturday, May 29, 7:00 a.m. PST
                                    Irwin Belk Track Complex/Charlotte, N.C.
                                     

       Weekly release with stats (PDF)
       Heat sheets
       Meet schedule (PDF)
       Jessica Pixler and UW's Katie Follett featured in Seattle Times

SEATTLE – The preparations are complete. The tune-ups are finished. And the Seattle Pacific Falcons are poised to make a top-10 team impact this week at the NCAA Division II Track & Field Championships in Charlotte, N.C.

Led by senior Jessica Pixler, who is the top seed and overwhelming favorite in both the 800 and 1,500 meters, the Falcons will have six athletes heading to the Irwin Belk Track Complex for competition that begins on Thursday.

The first day will be rather quiet from the SPU perspective, as the only event on its docket will the preliminaries of the 1,500, in which Pixler will compete. The pace picks up on Friday with the pole vault (junior Melissa Peaslee), triple jump (freshman Amanda Alvarez) and preliminaries of the 800 (Pixler and senior Lisa Anderberg). Then, it all winds up on Saturday with the javelin (Brittany Aanstad) and the finals of both the 1,500 and 800.

Based on entry times and marks, the Falcons are seeded to score 24 1/3 points, which would give them a ninth-place team finish (based on everyone else's entry marks). Last year, SPU tied for 11th place with 20 points.

Seattle Pacific is coming off of winning the team title at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships on May 14-15 at Western Oregon University in Monmouth. The Falcons won every running event from 100 to 1,500 meters, added the 4x400 relay, the heptathlon, and field event crowns in the pole vault and triple jump.

FOLLOW IT ONLINE
A live Webcast and live results will be available. Click on this link for the Webcast and on this link for results.

HOW'S THE WEATHER BACK THERE?
In a word: hot. That's what will be awaiting the competitors this weekend. The current forecast calls for temperatures in the mid to upper 80s on Thursday, mid 80s on Friday and low 80s on Saturday. A thunderstrom is possible on Friday.

TOUGH BREAK FOR LARSON
SPU senior Jane Larson (Fall City, Wash./Cedar Park Christian HS) was diagnosed on Monday with a stress fracture in her femur and will not be able to race in what would have been the final meet of her Falcon career. Larson was seeded second behind Jessica Pixler in the 1,500 meters.

“I never thought it was a fracture,” said Larson, who has been running in some pain for a good part of the spring. “I thought it was a soft-tissue thing because of the area where I was having pain. But it was this fracture thing that was kind of hiding.”

Although she was down essentially to her final 3,000 meters in SPU colors -- the 1,500 preliminaries on Thursday and the finals on Saturday -- Larson was advised not even to go that far.

“I just need to stay off of it -- put no weight on it at all,” she said.

However, since she already was all set to go to Charlotte, Larson has made the trip to support her teammates this weekend.

SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
All spring, head coach Karl Lerum has had the quiet confidence that Seattle Pacific athletes would deliver the right performances as the right moments. Suffice to say the Falcons haven't let him down, and that same quiet confidence remains in force as they head to North Carolina.

“We're placed in positions where I believe we're going to move up from,” Lerum said. “Melissa is vaulting well, Brittany is throwing well, and Amanda is jumping well.

“Surging in field events late in the season is important.”

 Things are no different on the track.

“Our women are running well,” Lerum said. “They're ready to compete not only for titles, but for All-American honors, as well.”

NCAA PREVIEW
Make no mistake: It'll take all six Falcons coming up with their best performances for the team to secure that top-10 finish.

But the spotlight undoubtedly will be focused on Jessica Pixler (Sammamish, Wash./Eastlake HS) as she goes for two more NCAA titles, which would the 12th and 13th of her storied Seattle Pacific career.

In the 1,500, Pixler will step to the line for Thursday's prelims with her world-caliber time of 4:11.06, clocked on March 26 at the Stanford Track & Field Invitational. With Jane Larson now out of the meet, Pixler has a margin of 17 seconds on Abigail Huber of Shippensburg (Pa.), who now moves up to the second seed at 4:28.18.

Pixler comes into Friday's 800 heats with a time of 2 minutes, 4.89 seconds, a school record that she recorded on April 17 at the Beach Invitational in Cerritos, Calif. She is almost three seconds ahead of Nebraska-Omaha junior Anja Puc, who is at 2:07.68. Right behind Puc is Grand Valley State sophomore Chanelle Caldwell at 2:07.68.

Pixler is going for her second straight 1,500 title and third overall. The 800 crown would be her first.

Joining Pixler in the 800 will be senior Lisa Anderberg (Edmonds, Wash./Kamiak HS). She has the eighth-fastest overall entry time of 2:10.98, set on March 26 at the Stanford Invite. Anderberg is in the last of the three preliminary heats.

Junior Melissa Peaslee (Fox Island, Wash./Gig Harbor HS) will be on the pole vault runway Friday afternoon. She comes in with a season-best mark of 12 feet, 5½ inches (3.80 meters), set on April 16 at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif. That is her best-ever outdoor mark, and is good for the 11th seed. Peaslee isn't in the points (top 8), but isn't that far away, either. The eighth-best height coming into the meet is 12-6¾  (3.83 meters) but is 3½ inches shy of her overall career best of 12-9 (3.89 meters), set during the 2008 indoor season.

Freshman Amanda Alvarez (Vancouver, Wash./Columbia River HS) quickly has established herself as a national-caliber triple jumper. After a season-opening leap of 38-11 at the UPS Outdoor Preview in Tacoma on March 6, she found herself stuck in the 38s until May 8 in the Ken Foreman-Ken Shannon Invitational at Husky Stadium. On that day, she uncorked a personal-best jump of 39-8¾, then was in the 39s again (39-1¼) to win the GNAC title on May 15.

With her 39-8¾ (12.11 meters), Alvarez is one of three jumpers tied for the eighth seed -- and what would be the final team point available in the triple -- heading into Friday, when the event will be contested in its entirety. Moving up would require breaking through another barrier, as the current No. 7 seed is 40-0¾ (12.21 meters).

Sophomore Brittany Aanstad (Lake Stevens, Wash./Lake Stevens HS) is flying to Charlotte for Saturday's javelin competition off a personal-best performance at GNACs. On her second throw of the meet, Aanstad let it fly 149 feet, 10 inches (45.68 meters), farther than she has ever thrown it previously. That was far enough to bump her up from the provisional to the automatic qualifying list and is the sixth-best mark overall.

Climbing the ladder at nationals will require breaking through the 150-foot mark, as the current No. 5 seed is 150-1½ (45.79 meters).

Teamwise, the Falcons do have a chance to move up if Anderberg can jump a spot or two in the 800, and all three field event athletes improve upon their current positions. West Region rival UC San Diego in seeded sixth with 29 points, Winona (MINN) is seventh with 27, and Queens (N.C.) is eighth with 25. Expected to battle it out for the title are defending champion Lincoln of Missouri and perennial contender Angelo State of Texas. They come in dead even, seeded for 80 points apiece.

WHEN TO SEE THEM
SPU's entries and their respective starting times for the NCAA Division II Track & Field Championships this Thursday through Saturday, May 27-29 (all starting times PDT; click on this link for Webcast):
Brittany Aanstad: Javelin, Saturday, 9:15 a.m.
Amanda Alvarez: Triple jump, Friday, 2:15 p.m.
Lisa Anderberg: 800, Friday, 3:40 p.m. (prelims); Saturday, 4:37 p.m. (finals).
Melissa Peaslee: Pole vault, Friday, 2:05 p.m.
Jessica Pixler: 1500, Thursday, 2:40 p.m. (prelims); Saturday, 3:05 p.m. (finals); 800, Friday, 3:40 p.m. (prelims); Saturday, 4:37 p.m. (finals).

LAST TIME AT NCAAs
Running against the wind, not to mention a talented field of challengers, Jessica Pixler came out ahead of both to capture her second career NCAA outdoor 1,500-meter championship last May in San Angelo, Texas. Pixler hit the finish line in 4 minutes, 26.75 seconds, which was just fast enough to fend off Wisconsin-Parkside's Jessica Monson, who clocked 4:27.38.

Pixler built an early 30-meter lead, but was battling the wind the whole time. Monson was able to close the gap, but Pixler got to the line first by 63 hundredths of a second -- the closest winning margin of any of her NCAA cross country, indoor track or outdoor track titles.

Jane Larson, competing in her first NCAA 1,500, wound up fifth overall in 4:32.45. Larson got boxed in at the start, but worked her way around the pack and up toward the front before Grand Valley State's Monica Kinney and Ferris State's Mikinzie Stuart passed her down the stretch.

Jeeni Schantin bagged a bronze medal in the javelin with a toss of 153 feet, 11 inches, capping her Falcon career as an All-American. Lauren VerMulm, in her final meet for SPU, was 10th in the jav at 137-10.

Sophomore Janae Larson placed 16th in the 10,000 meters with a time of 38:40.83.

FALCONS CLAIM GNAC TITLE
For freshmen Emily Quatier and Amanda Alvarez, it was their first chance to contribute to a conference track and field championship for Seattle Pacific. And they made good on it. For senior Latasha Essien, it was her first chance -- and her last chance. And she made doubly good on it.

Essien came from slightly behind out of the blocks to win both the 100 and 200 meters, senior teammate Jessica Pixler joined her as a double-winner, and junior Crystal Sims seemingly was everywhere doing everything as the Falcons laid claim to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's crown at Western Oregon University's McArthur Field.

Seattle Pacific finished with 224 points, beating out Western Washington, which was second with 190. The Falcons' total was the third-highest in conference history. Western Oregon owns the record of 231½ in 2004. SPU's top total was 226 in 2002.

SPU's championship was its first since 2007 -- when the current crop of seniors were freshmen.

Along with the sweep of the two sprints by Essien (Portland, Ore.) and a pair of distance titles (800, 1,500) from Pixler, Quatier (Portland, Ore.), won the 400; Alvarez (Vancouver, Wash./Columbia River HS) won the triple jump; junior Melissa Peaslee captured the pole vault, and Sims, in the multi-event competition 10 days prior to the GNAC meet proper, won the heptathlon. SPU also concluded the meet by winning the 4x400 relay with Quatier, Sims, Lisa Anderberg and Pixler.

Essien and Sims went 1-2 in the 200, and SPU had four of the top eight in both the 800 and the long jump, the latter led by freshman Trinna Miranda (Tigard, Ore.).

In the men's meet, Seattle Pacific took sixth place with 37 points. Leading the way was freshman Ryan Endresen (Portland, Ore.) with a second-place run in the 400-meter hurdles. Senior Chad Meis (Renton, Wash./Seattle Christian HS) made the podium with his third-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

BEST IN THE WEST
Seattle Pacific won three of the four 2010 USTFCCCA Division II West Region outdoor awards that were announced on May 24.

Jessica Pixler was named the Women's Track Athlete of the Year. Pixler won the Great Northwest Athletic Conference titles in the 800 and 1,500 meters, and has the top time in all of Division II for those two events plus the 5,000 meters. She broke SPU school records in all three in a span of 23 days.

Karl Lerum is the West Women's Coach of the Year. Under Lerum's guidance, the Falcons won the GNAC team title for the first time since 2007, scoring 224 points. Seattle Pacific won nine of the 21 event, including every distance from 100 to 1,500 meters, plus the 4x400 relay, pole vault, triple jump and heptathlon.

Pixler and Lerum thus swept this year's West Region awards, as both also earned their respective honors during the winter indoor season.

Erika Daligcon is the West Women's Assistant Coach of the Year. Her distance crew accounted for 46 of the Falcons' 224 points at the GNAC meet, and represents three of Seattle Pacific's six NCAA participants this week in Charlotte.

WHERE IN THE WORLD…?
Jessica Pixler's world-class performances in the 1,500 and 5,000 earlier this season are still world-class. In the latest rankings from IAAF, the world governing body of track and field, Pixler is No. 23 in the 1,500 with the 4:11.06 she ran on April 16 at the Mt. SAC Relays. Katie Follett from the University of Washington, who edged Pixler that night with a 4:10.66, ranks No. 19.

In the 5,000, Pixler's time of 15:44.07, which she ran on March 26 at the Stanford Track & Field Invitational, ranks No. 42.

POLLING PLACE
The Seattle Pacific women remained No. 7 in this week's USTFCCCA national poll. The Falcons, based on their six NCAA entries, have 109.56 points. Angelo State of Texas remains No. 1, totaling 265.21 points. Also from the GNAC, Western Washington stayed at No. 25 with 38.89.

In the final West Region poll, which was released on May 18, the Falcon women again leapfrogged Chico State to wind up at No. 2, totaling 452.78 points. It was the third straight week those two teams switched places. Chico finished third with 406.06. UC San Diego, which led the West poll by a wide margin all season, stayed No. 1 with a final tally of 544.56 points.

THE TEAM IS THE THING
Heading into nationals, Seattle Pacific's women rank No. 3 in the USTFCCCA Program of the Year standings for NCAA Division II. Teams receive points based on their finishes in the cross country, indoor track and outdoor track nationals -- one for first place, two for second, and so on -- and the standings are tabulated cross country-style, with the low score winning. SPU has 11 points (fourth in cross country for 4 points; seventh in indoor track for 7).

Grand Valley State of Michigan is leads with 4½ points (second in cross country for 2 points, tie for second in indoor track for 2½), and Adams State of Colorado is second with 6 points (first in cross country for 1 points; fifth in indoor track for 5). Missouri Southern is in fourth behind Seattle Pacific with 13.

ON THE HONOR ROLL
-- Crystal Sims (Portland, Ore.) was named the GNAC women's track Athlete of the Week on May 10 after her dominating performance in the heptathlon at the conference multi-event championships on May 3-4 in Nampa, Idaho. Sims racked up 4,769 points, and had the winning marks in the 100-meter hurdles, 200 meters, long jump and shot put. It was her first Athlete of the Week honor.
-- Jessica Pixler was named the GNAC Athlete of the Week on April 19, the 29th such honor of her career. Pixler was tabbed for the weekly award after her two school and GNAC record-breaking runs in the 800 and 1,500 in California on April 16 and 17. Of Pixler's 29 Athlete of the Week awards, seven have been for outdoor track. She also has 12 for cross country and 10 for indoor track.
-- The GNAC selected senior Jane Larson as its Female Athlete of the Week on March 22. At the Oregon Preview on March 20 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Larson went 2:11.75 in the 800 meters to take third place. It was an NCAA provisional qualifying time.
-- On March 8, freshman Amanda Alvarez was the GNAC Female Athlete of the Week for her triple jump performance at the UPS Outdoor Preview. Alvarez went 38 feet, 11 inches at Baker Stadium in Tacoma on March 6.