Complete results (PDF)

NAMPA, Idaho -- Crystal Sims had no idea she had won four of the seven heptathlon events at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Mulit-Event Championships.

All the Seattle Pacific junior knew for sure was she had claimed the overall title. And that was the only one that mattered.

Sims, having captured three events on Monday, added a long jump victory on Tuesday and cruised to the crown in a field of 15 competitors at Northwest Nazarene University. She finished with a career-high 4,769 points and beat runner-up Raquel Gonzalez of Central Washington by 442. Gonzalez had 4,327 points.

“I was trying to win the hurdles. (But) I didn't know that I won four of the seven,” Sims said. “The first day went really well, and that carried into the second day.”

Overall, three Falcon athletes accounted for six of the seven individual titles. In addition to Sims' four wins, sophomore Brittany Tri (Lake Stevens, Wash./Lake Stevens HS) took the javelin on Tuesday with a toss of 112 feet, 11 inches. That was worth 561 points on the way to her final total of 3,855, good for a career-best and eighth place overall.

On Monday, sophomore Brittany Aanstad (Lake Stevens, Wash./Lake Stevens HS) took the high jump, clearing 5-3.

For Sims (Portland, Ore.), it was her second straight conference heptathlon championship. Last spring, she won the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges event with 4,305 points while a sophomore at Mount Hood CC in Gresham, Ore.

Sims started her trek to the GNAC title by winning the 100 hurdles in 14.95 seconds, the shot put at 36-9¾, and the 200 meters in 25.87 on the first day. She then began her second day with a career-best performance in the long jump, going 17 feet, 7 inches to pick up another 660 points. She finished seventh in the javelin at 95 feet, 5 inches, and ran second in the 800 meters with a time of 2:22.94.

“I was really happy about the first day,” Sims said. “I PR'd in the hurdles, which was really good, because I wanted to get into the 14s. … I've come so far in the hurdles from the beginning (of the season) to now.”

Sims also was particularly pleased with her shot put results. Her mark of 36-9¾ beat her previous best by a whopping 2 feet, 7½ inches.

“My shot put is usually 35-ish,” Sims said, then added with a laugh, “I guess it caught the wind and kind of flew out.”

Sims' total easily surpassed the 4,506 she scored in taking seventh place at the Cal Multi Meet in Berkeley, Calif., on March 24-25. While it fell short of the 5,000 she needed to jump from the NCAA Division II provisional to the automatic qualifying list, it did elevate her to No. 17 nationally.

“I'm just proud of her to see where she's at right now and winning a conference championship,” Falcons coach Karl Lerum said. “Crystal is such an athlete. She hasn't been in track long enough (this is just Sims' third year in the sport), so she still has the ability to surprise people.”

SPU junior Jennifer Pike (Vancouver, Wash,./Skyview HS) moved up one place from Monday to finish third with a career-high 4,291 points. That included a third-place performance of 109-8 in the javelin.

Freshman Katy Gross (Everett, Wash./Cascade HS), who was second behind Sims after the first day, checked in fourth with 4,265. That was a jump of 330 points from what she scored at the Ralph Vernacchia Invitational in Bellingham on April 8-9. Gross came up big in two of her three events on Tuesday, taking second in the long jump at 17-5¾, and placing fourth in the javelin at 108-0.

“I was happy with all of them,” Lerum said. “Everyone competed in a strong way across the board.”

The individual finishes gave SPU 22 points toward the overall GNAC Championships, which take place May 14-15 at Western Oregon University in Monmouth. Northwest Nazarene picked up nine, and Central Washington has eight.

The Falcons wind up the regular season on Saturday at Husky Stadium in the Ken Foreman-Ken Shannon Invitational beginning at 10 a.m.



NCAA Women's Track & Field
GNAC Multi-Event Championships
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Northwest Nazarene University/Nampa, Idaho

Overall final standings -- 1, Crystal Sims (SPU) 4,769; 2, Raquel Gonzalez (CWU) 4,327; 3, Jennifer Pike (SPU) 4,291; 4, Katy Gross (SPU) 4,265; 5, Laura Vonarx (NNU) 4,176; 6, Jill Bennett (NNU) 4,127; 7, Lindsay Brady (NNU) 3,902; 8, Brittany Tri (SPU) 3,855; 9, Sarah Daigneault (WWU) 3,710; 10, Siri Berg (CWU) 3,529; 11, Ali Mosher (WOU) 3,519; 12, Beth McLan (NNU) 3,503; 13, Mary Seidler (CWU) 3,007; 14, Hannah Scholter (StM) 2,988; Brittany Aanstad (SPU) DNF.

DAY 1 (Monday, May 3)
100 hurdles -- 1, Crystal Sims (SPU) 14.95 (848 points). Other SPU placers -- 2, Jennifer Pike 15.57 (768); 3, Katy Gross 15.62 (762); 9, Brittany Tri 16.60 (642); 10, Brittany Aanstad 17.34 (559).
High jump -- 1, Aanstad (SPU) 5-3 / 1.60m (736 points). Other SPU placers -- 2, Gross 5-0 1/2 / 1.54m (666); T6, Sims and Tri 4-10 1/4 / 1.48m (599); 9, Pike 4-7 3/4 / 1.42m (534).
Shot put -- 1, Sims 36-5 3/4 / 11.22m (610 points). Other SPU placers -- 2, Tri 32-11 / 10.03m (531); 3, Gross 32-8 1/2 / 9.97m (527); 9, Aanstad 29-11 1/4 / 9.12m (472); 10, Pike 29-1 / 8.86m (455).
200 meters -- 1, Sims 25.87 (809). Other SPU placers -- 3, Pike 26.96 (715); 8, Gross 28.32 (606); 10, Aanstad 29.08 (548); 12 Tri 29.32 (531).

DAY 2 (Tuesday, May 4)
Long jump -- 1, Crystal Sims (SPU) 17-7 / 5.36m (660 points). Other SPU placers -- 2, Katy Gross 17-5 3/4 / 5.33m (651); 7, Jennifer Pike 16-0 3/4 / 4.90m (532); 9, Brittany Tri 15-7 3/4 / 4.77m (498).
Javelin -- 1, Tri (SPU) 112-11 / 34.43m (561 points). Other SPU placers -- 3, Pike 109-8 / 33.42m (542); 4, Gross 108-0 / 32.91m (532); 7, Sims 95-5 / 29.09m (459).
800 -- 1, Lindsay Brady (NNU) 2:19.30. SPU placers -- 2, Sims 2:22.94 (784); 3, Pike 2:25.91 (745); 12, Gross 2:44.66 (521); 13, Tri 2:47.21 (493).