Falcons fans recently voted on the top team highlights for SPU sports during 2011. The results are being presented this week. Today, we feature the No. 4 Seattle Pacific sports event of the year.


• Highlight #5: Herold sets single-match volleyball digs record with 46
• Highlight #3: Falcon men upset top seed Central Washington
• Highlight #2: Golden goal by Morris lifts Falcons in NCAA men's opener
• Highlight #1  Falcons upset 16th-ranked Arizona in hoops exhibition



February 19, 2011
 
        Complete results
 
NAMPA, Idaho – In the past, they've done it with star power. This time, they did it more with depth.

But the result was the same: The Seattle Pacific women got it done.

Off to a solid start on Friday with Katy Gross' victory in the pentathlon and Ali Worthen's in the long jump at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships, the Falcons added just one more individual title on Saturday when Worthen took the high jump. But they also added 78 more points to their Friday total, and that was enough give them their eighth consecutive team title.

Seattle Pacific thus continues as the only school to win the conference women's championship, claiming this one with 126½ points at Jackson's Track in the Idaho Sports Complex. Simon Fraser, which was expected to give the Falcons a hard push, did exactly that, but had to settle for second place with 118 points.

"It was our lowest winning team score, but we're real excited to pull out a team win," SPU head coach Karl Lerum said. "This was a little different year for us. We graduated so many of our big guns, but we have a lot of talented kids, and we asked some of them to carry a big load."

Falcons junior Worthen (Coos Bay, Ore.) now has four conference crowns in her collection, returning to the top of the podium twice this weekend to match her two-win performance as a freshman (in the same events) in 2009.

Worthen cleared 5 feet, 5¼ inches (1.66 meters) to take the high jump on Saturday. Katie Pelchar of Western Oregon also went that high, but Worthen made it in fewer attempts to gain the tiebreaker edge.

"I'm real happy with what I did," Worthen said. "I could always want to go higher and farther and faster, but I'm pretty proud with the injuries I've had to be able to come back at conference and do as well as I did."

Added Lerum, "I'm just so excited for Ali to be back performing at that level."
 
While Worthen's were the only winning points on Saturday, the Falcons got plenty of help from plenty of different people in various events.

In fact, the high jump was Seattle Pacific's most productive event of the day, yielding 17 ½ points. In addition to Worthen, junior Brittany Aanstad (Lake Stevens, Wash./Lake Stevens HS), the 2010 champion, was fourth at 5-1¼, and freshman McKayla Fricker (Canby, Ore.) – usually an 800-meter specialist – tied for sixth, also at 5-1¼.

The Falcons tallied 13 in the 60-meter hurdles, led by Worthen's third place finish in 9.16. Junior Terra Schumacher (Sublimity, Ore.) was fifth in 9.21, and senior Crystal Sims (Portland, Ore.) took sixth in 9.26. 

SPU also got into double-digit scoring in the 400 meters, with freshman Kishia Mitchell (Puyallup, Wash./Rogers  HS) third in 57.68 seconds, sophomore Emily Quatier (Portland, Ore.) fourth in a personal-best 57.84, and freshman BryAnne Wochnick (Portland, Ore.) tying for eight, all of which added up to 11½ points.

The 60-meter dash yielded 10 points, with Sims fourth in 8.06, Mitchell sixth in 8.13, and Wochnick seventh in 8.23.

"We needed all the points we could get," Worthens said. It's stressful while you're there, but the team did a great job of getting a couple points here and there. It's awesome."

With Simon Fraser still close behind, junior Natty Plunkett helped increased Seattle Pacific's advantage with a second-place performance in the 5,000 meters. Her time of 18:02.35 was bettered only by Western Washington star Sarah Porter, who won in 17:18.68.

The other top-three finish by SPU was freshman Alli Cutting (Sequim, Wash./Sequim HS) in the mile with her time of 5:11.49. Jessica Smith of Simon Fraser, who came in as a wild card (she had not posted a time in that event during the season) won in 5:04.83.

Also adding points on Saturday were junior Heidi Laabs-Johnson (Salt Lake City, Utah, seventh in the mile), sophomore Athena Nye (Vancouver, Wash./Columbia River HS, fourth in the triple jump) and sophomore Trinna Miranda (Tigard, Ore., eighth in the triple jump).

 

NCAA WOMEN'S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD
GNAC Championships
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Jackson's Track at Idaho Sports Complex/Nampa, Idaho

Team scores – 1, Seattle Pacific 126½; 2, Simon Fraser 118; 3, Northwest Nazarene 97; 4, Western Oregon 85; 5, Central Washington 80½; 6, Western Washington 74½; 7, Montana State Billings 30½; 8, Saint Martin's 10.

60-meter dash – 1, Jane Channell (SFU) 7.81. SPU scorers – 4, Crystal Sims 8.06; 6, Kishia Mitchell 8.13; 7, BryAnne Wochnick 8.23. No other SPU placers.

200 – 1, Channell (SFU) 25.57. No SPU scorers. SPU placers – 9, Mitchell 26.21; 10, Sims 26.36; 11, Emily Quatier 26.61; 13, Wochnick 26.66; Ali Worthen DQ (lane violation).

400 – 1, Helen Crofts (SFU) 55.90. SPU scorers – 3, Kishia Mitchell 57.68; 4, Emily Quatier 57.84; T8, BryAnne Wochnick 59.44. Other SPU placers – 12, Myisha Valentine 1:00.07.

800 – 1, Brianna Kane (SFU) 2:14.58. No SPU scorers. SPU placer – 11, McKayla Fricker 2:20.90.

Mile – 1, Jessica Smith (SFU) 5:04.83. SPU scorers – 3, Alli Cutting 5:11.49; 7, Heidi Laabs-Johnson 5:21.64. No other SPU placers.

5,000 – 1, Sarah Porter (WWU) 17:18.68. SPU scorer – 2, Natty Plunkett 18:02.35. No other SPU placers.

60 hurdles – 1, Tanya Bjornsson (WWU) 8.98. SPU scorers – 3, Ali Worthen 9.16; 5, Terra Schumacher 9.21; 6, Crystal Sims 9.26. Other SPU placer – 12, Jenifer Pike 9.60.

4x400 relay – 1, Simon Fraser 3:51.72. SPU placer – 5, Seattle Pacific (Quatier, Sims, Wochnick, Mitchell) 3:59.84.

High jump – 1, Ali Worthen (SPU) 5-5¼ / 1.66m. Other SPU scorers – 4, Brittany Aanstad 5-1¼ / 1.56m; T6, Fricker 5-1¼ / 1.56m. SPU placers – T10, Katy Gross and Ariana Warren 4-10½ / 1.51m; T16, Brittany Tri 4-10½ / 1.51m.

Triple jump – 1, Katharine Lotze (CWU) 38-5 / 11.71m. SPU scorers – 4, Athena Nye 36-3½ / 11.06m; 8, Trinna Miranda 35-7¼ / 10.85m. Other SPU placer – 9, Natalie Nobbs 35-1¼ / 10.70m.

Shot put – 1, Torrie Self (CWU) 45-10 / 13.97m (meet record, breaks old record of 44-8 ¾ / 13.63m set by Krissy Tandle (CWU) in 2006). No SPU scorers. SPU placer – 16, Briana Clarke 29-10¼ / 9.10m.