Complete results

SEATTLE – Kishia Mitchell. Dusty Duncan. McKayla Fricker.

Get used to those names – and a few more. Because while the Seattle Pacific Falcons have some familiar faces who can run far on the track, they have some new ones who can run flat-out fast.

Mitchell and Duncan made their collegiate debuts, and Fricker got her first college try at her favorite event on Saturday in the UW Invitational. While none of the three freshmen were shy about saying they didn't go as fast as they would have liked, all three took home varying amounts of satisfaction from the Dempsey Indoor facility on the University of Washington campus.

The busiest of the bunch by far was Mitchell (Puyallup, Wash./Rogers HS). She started her day by posting a Great Northwest Athletic Conference automatic qualifying time of 7.98 seconds in the 60-meter dash. Later, she added a conference provisional qual time in the 200 meters (25.95) and ran the anchor leg on SPU's 4x400 relay team that finished 14th overall in 4:00.49.

“I felt like I could have done better in all of my events. But for the 200 and the 400, it's a little different being indoors for the first time,” said Mitchell, who won the Washington state Class 4A high school titles in the 100 and 400 last spring at Rogers. “I thought the 400 was going to be way more difficult starting on the curve. I just wanted to get a feel for it today. I just want to get faster.”

Duncan (Lynden, Wash./Lynden HS) ran a pair of 400s on Saturday: one in the regular event, and then in the 4x400 relay. He actually was quite pleased with the former, coming across the line in 50.26 seconds. That was a GNAC provisional qualifying time, and was just one-hundredth of a second away from the automatic standard of 50.25.

And, it puts him well within reach of the school record of 49.99 set in 2005 by national-caliber multi-event man Chris Randolph.

“It felt just as natural as it did last year,” Duncan said. “It was good to get past that first race, coming off an injury (hamstring) like I was. I was trying to go under 51 today, so that's good enough for me right now. I'd like to go in the mid 49s (by next month's GNAC Championships).”

Fricker (Canby, Ore.) ran her first college indoor race at the UW Indoor Preview two weeks ago, competing in the mile. But the 800 is her specialty, and she was eagerly awaiting Saturday's meet to give it a go. She hit the wire in 2 minutes, 18.94 seconds, giving her a spot on the GNAC provisional list and moving her well within striking range of not only a conference automatic time (2:17.31) but also for an NCAA Division II provisional time (2:15.90).

“It wasn't what I had in mind (timewise), but honestly, it was a good race because I learned a lot from it,” Fricker said. “It was just getting back into the rhythm of running the 800. I set 2:15 for my goal, and that was kind of a high goal. But it was kind of good for me. I would rate it a 6 or 7 (on a scale of 10) just because of how much I learned and being reminded of the quickness of running an 800 and how you've just got to go – especially when the girls in front of you are going fast.” 

Another freshman, Myisha Valentine (Portland, Ore.), also was a provisional GNAC qualifier, making it in the 400 (1:00.09).

And yet another one was flying, too -- although in his case, it was a junior, and he was flying high instead of flying fast. Ray Zoellick (Bothell, Wash./Cedar Park Christian HS) cleared 14 feet, 7 1/4 inches (4.45 meters) in the pole vault on Friday night to better the GNAC provisioinal qualifying standard.

Seattle Pacific's long jump crew of junior Ali Worthen (Coos Bay, Ore.), Brittany Aanstad (Lake Stevens, Wash./Lake Stevens HS) and Trinna Miranda (Tigard, Ore.) all earned automatic tickets to GNACs in that event. Worthen was 11th overall at 17 feet, 6¼ inche (5.34 meters), Aanstad was 16th at 17-4 (5.28 meters) and Miranda placed 18th at 17-2¼ (5.24 meters).

Defending GNAC champion Nate Seely (Lynden, Wash./Lynden HS) guaranteed himself a chance to defend with an automatic qualifying time of 1:56.70 on Saturday.

In the women's pentathlon on Friday night, Falcon senior Crystal Sims (Portland, Ore.) tallied an NCAA provisional qualifying total of 3,364 points. That placed her seventh among the 21 competitors and was way above her 2010 personal best of 2,983. Sophomore Katy Gross (Everett, Wash./Cascade HS was ninth with 3,245, putting her in range of the NCAA provisional minimum of 3,300. Senior Jenifer Pike (Vancouver, Wash./Skyview HS) finished 14th with 3,002

Sims and Gross went 8-9 in the shot put portion, and Gross also was ninth in the long jump. Pike had the best individual finish of any of SPU's three pentathletes, taking fifth in the 800 meters in 2:26.06, fast enough to win the first of two heats. Sims was sixth overall in that event.

Junior Natty Plunkett shattered her personal best in the 5,000 meters, taking seventh place on Friday in 17:36.54. That was more than a minute faster than the GNAC automatic qualifying standard, and is 14 seconds away from the NCAA provisional mark of 17:22.30.

Seattle Pacific volunteer assistant coach Carly Dockendorf, returning to pole vault competition for the first time since tying for the bronze medal at last October's Commonwealth Games in Dehli, India, finished in second place Saturday, clearing 13 feet, 5¾ inches (4.11 meters).

The final pre-GNAC tune-ups for the Falcons will be back at Dempsey in two weeks. The Husky Classic is set for Friday and Saturday, Feb. 11 and 12, and the UW Indoor Open is on Sunday, Feb. 13. 


NCAA MEN'S TRACK
UW Invitational
Friday-Saturday, Jan. 28-29, 2011
Dempsey Indoor/Seattle, Wash.

Team scores – Not kept.

Heptathlon – 1, Jeremy Taiwo (Washington) 5746 points. No SPU competitors.
5000 meters – 1, Luke Puskedra (Oregon) 13:46.70. No SPU competitors.
4000 distance medley relay – 1, Oregon 9:35.98. SPU placer – 11, Seattle Pacific (AJ Baker, Dustin Bratten, Evan Bradford, Jacob Wahlenmaier) 10:39.11.
60-meter hurdles – 1, Jesuha Anderson (Washington State) 8.02. No SPU competitors.
60-meter dash – 1, Rubin Williams (Heritage Track Club) 6.77. No SPU competitors.
Mile – 1, Myles Batty (Brigham Young) 4:00.91. SPU placer – 35, Chad Meis 4:18.53.
400 – 1, Anderson (Washington State) 47.12. SPU placer – 26, Dusty Duncan 50.26.
800 – 1, Elijah Greer (Oregon) 1:48.45. SPU placers – 28, Nate Seely 1:56.70; 35, Nate Sleight 1:58.96.
200 – 1, Williams (Heritage Track Club) 21.12. No SPU competitors.
3000 – 1, Collin Jarvis (California) 7:59.85. No SPU competitors.
High jump – 1, Danny Marconi (Oregon) 7-1 / 2.16m. No SPU competitors.
Pole vault – 1, Scott Roth (Washington) 18-1 / 5.51m. SPU placer – T16, Ray Zoellick 14-7¼ / 4.45m.; 20, Nate Johnson 13-7 ¼ / 4.15m.
Long jump – 1, Hammed Suleman (California) 24-6¼ / 7.47m. No SPU competitors.
Triple jump – 1, Suleman (California) 51-5¾ / 15.69m. No SPU competitors.
Shot put – 1, Eugenio Mannucci (Idaho) 56-3¾ / 17.16m. No SPU competitors.
Weight throw – 1, Jordan Stray (Oregon) 60-0¼ / 18.29m. No SPU competitors.
4x400 relay – 1, Washington State 3:11.84. SPU placer – 9, Seattle Pacific (Ryan Endresen, Seely, Bratten, Duncan) 3:23.78. 


NCAA WOMEN'S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD
UW Invitational
Friday-Saturday, Jan. 28-29, 2011
Dempsey Indoor/Seattle, Wash.

Team scores – Not kept.

Pentathlon -- 1, Brianne Theisen (Oregon) 4507 points. SPU placers – 7, Crystal Sims 3364 points; 9, Katy Gross 3245; 14, Jennifer Pike 3002.
Pentathlon 60-meter hurdles – 1, Theisen (Oregon) 8.45 (1,028 points). SPU placers – 11, Sims 9.25 (858 points); 14, Pike 9.66 (777); 15, Gross 9.82 (746).
Pentathlon high jump – 1, (tie) Natasha Miller (Biola) and Theisen (Oregon) 6-0 /1.83m (1016 points). SPU placers – 6, (tie) Gross 5-5 /1.65m (795 points); 17, Sims 5-0¼ /1.53m (655); 22, Pike 4-6¼/1.38m (491).
Pentathlon shot put – 1, Barbara Nwaga (UC Santa Barbara) 42-10¾ /13.07m (732 points). SPU placers – 8, Sims 34-10¼ /10.62m (570 points); 9, Gross 34-4¼ /10.47m (560); 16, Pike 29-8¼ /9.05m (467).
Pentathlon long jump – 1, Theisen (Oregon) 19-9 /6.02m (856 points). SPU placers – 9, Gross 16-11¼ /5.16m (603 points); 11, Sims 16-8 /5.08m (581); 16, Pike 15-11¾ /4.87m (524).
Pentathlon 800 – 1, Theisen (Oregon) 2:14.50 (900 points). SPU placers – 5, Pike 2:26.06 (743 points); 6, Sims 2:29.46 (700); 16, Gross 2:42.80 (541).
5000 – 1, Kara Goucher (Nike) 16:11.50. SPU placer – 7, Natty Plunkett 17:36.54.
4000 distance medley relay – 1, Oregon 11:02.15. SPU placer – 9, Seattle Pacific (McKayla Fricker, Heidi Laabs-Johnson, Alli Cutting, Natalie Nobbs) 12:36.51.
60-meter hurdles – 1, Angela Whyte (Unattached) 8.18. SPU placer – 37, Terra Schumacher 9.50.
60-meter dash – 1, Amber Purvis (Oregon) 7.35. SPU placer – 33, Kishia Mitchell 7.98.
Mile – NA. No SPU competitors.
400 – 1, Joy Eaton (UCLA) 54.58. SPU placers – 24, BryAnne Wochnick 58.97; 49, Myisha Valentine 1:00.09.
800 – 1, Lea Wallace (Sacramento State) 2:05.42. SPU placer – 39, McKayla Fricker 2:18.94.
200 – 1, Mandy White (Oregon) 24.19. SPU placers – 28, Kishia Mitchell 25.95. 
3000 – 1, Jordan Hasay (Oregon) 9:05.42. No SPU competitors.
High jump – 1, Kelly McNamee (Washington) 5-10/1.78m. SPU placers – T15, Brittany Aanstad 5-2¼ / 1.58m.
Pole vault – 1, Melissa Gergel (Oregon) 14-3½ / 4.36m; 2, Carly Dockendorf (Unattached) 13- ¾ / 4.11m. No SPU competitors.
Long jump – 1, Krysha Bayley (Legacy Athletics) 20-7 / 6.27m. SPU placers -- T11, Ali Worthen 17-6¼ / 5.34m; 16, Brittany Aanstad 17-4 / 5.28m; 18, Trinna Miranda 17-2¼ / 5.24m.
Triple jump – 1, Lauren Reid (Unattached) 42-0½ / 12.81m. No SPU competitors.
Shot put – 1, Alisha Misiata (UC Irvine) 50-2½ / 15.30m. No SPU competitors.
Weight throw – 1, Jere' Summers (Unattached) 65-5 ½ / 19.95m. No SPU competitors.
4x400 relay – 1, Oregon 3:38.68. SPU placer – 14, Seattle Pacific (Emily Quatier, Worthen, Wochnick, Mitchell) 4:00.49.