NAMPA, Idaho – From a Seattle Pacific perspective on Saturday, it was great to be a Nate.
That's because a pair of Falcon sophomores bearing that first name brought home titles from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Track & Field Championships.
Nate Johnson followed up on his solid performance from Friday's first four events of the heptathlon and locked up the title Saturday morning, finishing with 4,576 points – a total that included 628 points for winning the pole vault in the seven-event test at Jackson's Track in the Idaho Sports Complex.
Seattle Pacific thus swept the multi events, as sophomore Katy Gross (Everett, Wash./Cascade HS) won the women's pentathlon on Friday.
Then early Saturday afternoon, Nate Seely became just the second Falcon to repeat as a conference indoor champion when he ran to his second straight 800-meter title. And once again, Seely did it as a bit of an underdog, coming in third-seeded, but matching his career-best time of 1 minute, 54.35 seconds to edge Northwest Nazarene's Matt Stark by 38 hundredths of a second.
The only other Seattle Pacific male athlete to go back-to-back at GNAC indoors was Chris Randolph, who won three straight long jump crowns (2004, 2005 and 2006).
"Last year, I just kind of took it out and led the last 400. There wasn't that much competition," Seely said. "This was definitely a more fun race to watch and more fun to run. I liked this race a lot better."
Added SPU coach Karl Lerum, "That was an authoritative win. That race, he looked like a real veteran out there."
With Johnson and Seely leading the way, the Falcons tallied 41 points to wind up sixth in the team standings – the same place, but an improvement of three points from 2010. Western Oregon won its fourth straight title, beating out Western Washington, 147.83-135.
Just as he did last year, Seely (Lynden, Wash./Lynden HS) has taken his performance up a notch late in the season, and has the results to show for it. Last Saturday at the Husky Classic in Seattle, Seely logged his personal best of 1:54.35 – half a second better than the 1:54.86 with which he won last year's conference crown and nearly two seconds faster than his previous 2011 indoor best.
Still, that left him with just the No. 3 seed, and Simon Fraser freshman Travis Vugteveen came in as the man to beat at 1:53.08, and Western Oregon junior Kyle Larson seeded second at 1:53.93. But Vugteveen wound up settling for fifth at 1:55.35, and Larson wound up ninth at 1:58.30.
Seely was behind with 200 meters to go, but caught up with Vugteveen, then passed him in the final 100 meters.
"The opportunity was there, so I took it," Seely said. "I've been in that situation before where you have 200 to go in an 800, and there's someone on your shoulder. The guy on your shoulder has the mental advantage. This time, that was me."
Johnson (Boise, Idaho) started the final day of the heptathlon with 2,497 points – just seven more than Andy Loscutoff of Western Oregon. Loscutoff won the first three events on Friday (60-meter dash, long jump and shot put), while Johnson was second, third, and fourth, respectively. But Johnson edged ahead by finishing Friday with a second-place finish in the high jump. Loscutoff was fifth.
As expected, Loscutoff resumed competition on Saturday by winning the 60-meter hurdles in 8.76 seconds for 800 points. Johnson third in 9.10 for third place in 724 points, and Loscutoff went back on top, 3,290-3,221 with two events left.
Johnson figured the pole vault would be his strong suit, and it was – he won by go 13 feet, 3 inches (4.04 meters) for 628 points. And in a stunning turn of events, Loscutoff was unable to clear the opening height, leaving him with no points for the pole. That dropped him into third place, and Johnson took a commanding 406-point lead into the final event, the 1,000 meters.
It wasn't my best mark (in the pole vault). I was hoping for a little higher," Johnson said. "But it still separated me from the rest of the pack."
Loscutoff won the 1,000, but Johnson's third-place run in 2:53.69 netted 727 points and was more than enough to clinch it.
"Nate Johnson did what good multi-eventers do: He just strung together a lot of decent marks," Lerum said.
Loscutoff did wind up second overall with 4,116 points.
"I knew at that point after the pole vault that it was going to be real hard for me to not win," Johnson said. "It was good, but it was a little bittersweet, too, knowing the one person I was competing with wasn't in there.
"It feels good to win it. I don't know if it has hit me yet."
A total of four other Falcons factored into the individual scoring on Saturday:
-- Senior Chad Meis (SeaTac, Wash./Seattle Christian HS) took fifth place in the mile in 4:17.54.
-- Sophomore Ryan Endresen (Portland, Ore.) was fourth in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.64 seconds.
-- Junior Ray Zoellick (Bothell, Wash./Cedar Park Christian HS), a newcomer to the team this year, went a personal-best 14 feet, 9½ inches (4.51 meters) for fifth place in the pole vault.
-- And freshman Dusty Duncan (Lynden, Wash./Lynden HS) ran to seventh place in the 400 meters in 50.39 seconds.
-- SPU's final points came from the 4x400 relay team of Endresen, Seely, Dustin Bratten, and Duncan. They wound up fifth in 3:25.05.
Seattle Pacific sophomore Billy Martin (Edmonds, Wash./King's HS), who just last Sunday broke the school 35-pound weight throw record, broke it again on Saturday. His toss of 48 feet, 7 ½ inches (14.82 meters) was an improvement of more than three feet from the 45-3 he recorded last Sunday at the UW Indoor Open. Prior to that meet, Martin's personal best had been 34-9½, and the school standard was 38-10½.
NCAA MEN'S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD
GNAC Championships
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Jackson's Track at Idaho Sports Complex/Nampa, Idaho
Team scores – 1, Western Oregon 147.83; 2, Western Washignton 135; 3, Central Washington 104.83; 4, Northwest Nazarene 104.33; 5, Simon Fraser 67; 6, Seattle Pacific 41; 7, Montana State Billings 12; 8, Saint Martin's 11.
60-meter dash – 1, Alex Tilley (WWU) 7.05. No SPU scorers. SPU placer – 10, Dustin Bratten 7.29.
200 – 1, Andrew Boss (SFU) 21.84. No SPU placers (Dusty Duncan DQ on lane violation).
5,000 – 1, Jordan Welling (WWU) 15:15.07. No SPU scorers or placers.
60 hurdles – 1, Anthony Hogan (CWU) 8.42. SPU scorer – 4, Ryan Endresen 8.64. No other SPU placers.
4x400 relay – 1, Northwest Nazarene 3:20.23. SPU placer – 5, Seattle Pacific (Endresen, Seely, Bratten, Duncan) 3:25.05.
Pole vault – 1, Ryan Brown (WWU) 15-9 ¼ / 4.81m. SPU scorer – 5, Ray Zoellick 14-9½ / 4.51m. No other SPU placers.
Triple jump – 1, Tim Clendaniel (WWU) 46-11 / 14.30m. No SPU scorers or placers.
Weight throw – 1, Matt Schryvers 56-7¼ / 17.25m. No SPU scorers. SPU placer – 9, Billy Martin 48-7½ / 14.82m.
Heptathlon – 1, Nate Johnson (SPU) 4,576. No other SPU scorers or placers.
Heptathlon 60 hurdles – 1, Andy Loscutoff (WOU) 8.76 (800 points). SPU placer – 3, Johnson 9.10 (724 points).
Heptathlon pole vault – 1, Johnson (SPU) 13-3 / 4.04m (628 points).
Heptathlon 1,000 – 1, Loscutoff (WOU) 2:42.32 (826 points). SPU placer – 3, Johnson 2:53.69 (727 points).
