Complete 'Not-So-Twilite' results (PDF)
        Video of women's 4x400 relay at Oregon Relays (see story below)

BELLINGHAM – AJ Baker went faster. Ali Worthen went farther. And Melissa Peaslee went higher.

Baker put himself into the meet record book, and Worthen and Peaslee put themselves onto the provisional qualifying list for the NCAA Division II track and field championships, highlighting a strong showing by Seattle Pacific on Saturday at the Western Washington 'Not-So-Twilite' meet at Civic Stadium.

The meet, normally dubbed the WWU Twilite that starts in the late afternoon and extends into the evening was moved to a mid-day start and took place the warmest temperatures of what has been a cold, wet spring. And the Falcons took advantage of it, winning six events altogether.

A sophomore, Baker (Au Gres, Mich.) continues to make his mark in the steeplechase. On Saturday, he made his mark in the Twilite record book, winning in 9 minutes, 34.98 seconds to obliterate his previous career best of 9:44.95 which he set on March 5 in the season-opening UPS Outdoor Preview in Tacoma. The old record was 9:39.23 set by SPU's Daniel Friesen in 2009.

Baker moved from provisional to automatic qualifying for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships on May 13-14 at Western Oregon University.

Worthen (Coos Bay, Ore.), an SPU junior, went 19 feet, 7 ½ inches (5.98 meters) to win the long jump. It shattered her previous career best of 18-0 ½ / 5.50 meters set on April 9 at the War IV meet in Spokane. Not only was it easily an NCAA provisional mark, it pushed her all the way up to No. 3 in all of Division II, pending the outcome of other results this weekend. And, Worthen is just 1 ¼ inches away from making it an automatic trip to Turlock, Calif., for next month's nationals.

Falcons senior Peaslee (Fox Island, Wash./Gig Harbor HS) cleared the 12-foot mark for the first time this spring to win the pole vault and gain a spot on the NCAA provisional list. Peaslee went 12-1 ½ / 3.70 meters. Her previous best this year was 11-5 ¾ / 3.50 meters just last week at the Spike Arlt Invitational in Ellensburg. Her career best is 12-5 ½ / 3.75 meters.

Peaslee's performance elevated her to No. 9 nationally pending other outcomes.

Seattle Pacific senior Jennifer Pike (Vancouver, Wash./Skyview HS) ran a season-best time of 1:04.69 to win the 400-meter hurdles. That was nearly two seconds faster than her previous season best of 1:06.26.

Sophomore Trinna Miranda went 36 feet, 9 ¾ inches / 11.22 meters to capture the triple jump title. Miranda also finished second to Worthen in the long jump, going a personal-best 18-6 / 5.64 meters – just half an inch of making NCAA provisional.

Sophomore Katy Gross (Everett, Wash./Cascade HS) won the high jump at 5-2 ¼ / 1.58 meters. She also rounded out a 1-2-3 finish in the long jump behind Worthen and Miranda, going a career-best 17-10 1/4 / 5.44 meters. That was 4 1/2 inches varterthan she had gone previously.

Worthen, in addition to her long jump victory, ran 14.71 to take second place in the 100-meter hurdles. She and winner Tanja Bjornsson of Western Washington (14.69) both broke the meet record of 14.76. In that race, Worthen, junior Terra Schumacher (Sublimity, Ore.), Pike and Gross finished 2-3-4-5.

The Falcons had four runner-up finishes in the men's meet: senior Micah Grounds (San Diego, Calif.) in the 200 meters at 22.66 that was a personal best and a GNAC provisional time; freshman Dusty Duncan (Lynden, Wash./Lynden HS) in the 400 meters in 49.88; sophomore Will Harrison (Tucson, Ariz.) in the 3,000 meters in 9:07.67; and senior Jace Derwin (Snoqualmie, Wash./Mount Si HS) in the javelin at 185-0 / 56.38 meters.

OREGON RELAYS
The Seattle Pacific women's 4-by-400 relay team moved ever closer to an NCAA provisional qualifying time on Saturday at the Oregon Relays in Eugene.

Freshman Kishia Mitchell, sophomore Emily Quatier, freshman BryAnne Wochnick, and senior Crystal Sims took third place at Historic Hayward Field in 3 minutes, 50.64 seconds. The time to beat to get onto the Division II list is 3:50.00.

That same foursome, albeit in a different order – Mitchell (Puyallup, Wash./Rogers HS), Wochnick (Portland, Ore.), Quatier (Portland, Ore.) and Sims (Portland, Ore.) – also took third place in the 4-by-100 relay on Saturday, logging a 47.57. The national provisional qual time in that one is 46.40.

Also on Saturday, SPU assistant coach Letiwe Patton took ninth place in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase in 11 minutes, 44.35 seconds.

On Friday, juniors Brittany Aanstad (Lake Stevens, Wash./Lake Stevens HS) and Carly Andrews (Issaquah, Wash./Issaquah HS) finished second and fourth, respectively, in the javelin. Aanstad unleashed a season-best toss of 148-8 / 45.31 meters. That's just more than a foot away from her career best of 149-10 – which is exactly the mark she needs to move from NCAA provisional to automatic status.

Andrews, who has made setting a career-best mark almost a weekly habit, did it again, this time flinging it 143-10 / 43.85 meters, beating her previous PR of 141-6 by more than two feet.

Freshman Alli Cutting (Sequim, Wash./Sequim HS) took fifth in the women's 1,500 (career-best 4:41.48); freshman Evan Bradford (Santa Barbara, Calif.) was 10th in the men's 1,500 career-best 4:00.30), and junior Natty Plunkett (Bellevue, Wash./Newport HS) placed 17th in the women's 5,000 meters (17:43.53).


NCAA MEN'S TRACK AND FIELD
WWU Not-So-Twilite
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Civic Stadium/Bellingham, Wash.

Team scores – Not kept.

100 – 1, Paul Newland (Unattached) 10.96. SPU placers – 5, Micah Grounds 11.18*; 10, Dustin Bratten 11.39.
200 – 1, Scott Morrison (CWU) 22.05. SPU placers – 2, Grounds 22.66*; 12, Bratten 23.53.
400 – 1, Logan Johnson (Skagit Valley CC) 49.75. SPU placer – 2, Dusty Duncan 49.88.
800 – 1, Nathan Powers (CWU) 1:57.30. SPU placer – 12, AJ Baker 2:04.24.
Mile – 1, Jordan Welling (WWU) 4:12.00. SPU placer – 5, Nathanael Sleight 4:28.16.
3000 – 1, Manuel Santos (CWU) 8:57.79. SPU placers – 2, Will Harrison 9:07.67; 5, Daniel Hamilton 9:37.89.
5000 – 1, Seth Bridges (Northwest Univ.) 15:04.13. No SPU competitors.
110 hurdles – 1, Cory Okazaki (WWU) 15.31. No SPU competitors.
400 hurdles – 1, Ryan Endresen (SPU) 54.86!. No other SPU competitors.
3000 steeplechase – 1, AJ Baker (SPU) 9:34.98 (meet record, breaks old record of 9:39.23 set by Daniel Friesen of SPU in 2009). No other SPU competitors.
4x100 relay – 1, Central Washington 42.78. No SPU team.
4x400 relay – 1, Central Washington 3:20.44.
High jump – 1, Brennan Boyes (CWU) 6-4 ¾ / 1.95m. No SPU competitors.
Pole vault – 1, Ryan Brown (WU) 17-2 ¾ / 5.25m. SPU placer – T4, Ray Zoellick 14-3 ¼ / 4.35m!.
Long jump – 1, Sakae Kamagata (CWU) 21-9 / 16.63m. No SPU competitors.
Triple jump – 1, Kamagata (CWU) 45-0 ½ / 13.73m. No SPU competitors.
Shot put – 1, Ben Elder (WWU) 51-0 ¼ / 15.55m. SPU placer – 15, Nate Johnson 32-8 ½ / 9.97m.
Discus – 1, Elder (WWU) 165-3 / 50.36m. SPU placer – 11, Johnson 125-1 / 38.12m.
Hammer – 1, Michael Hoffman (WWU) 206-3 / 62.87m. SPU placer – 8, Billy Martin 141-9 / 43.22m!.
Javelin – 1, Cody Parker (Com. Cougars) 206-3 / 62.87m. SPU placers – 2, Jace Derwin 185-0 / 56.38m!; 3, Martin 184-7 / 56.26m!; 11, Johnson 156-3 / 47.63m.

! GNAC automatic qualifying
*GNAC provisional qualifying


NCAA WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD
Western Washington Not-So-Twilite
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Civic Stadium/Bellingham, Wash.

Team scores – Not kept.

100 – 1, Dina Birade (SoCal Track) 12.19. No SPU competitors.
200 – 1, Grace Morgan (Com. Cougars) 25.36. SPU placers – 5, Myisha Valentine 26.22*; 14, Lisa Weaver 27.57.
400 – 1, Eleanor Siler (WWU) 57.11. SPU placers – 4, Valentine 59.27*; 9, Weaver 1:02.26.
800 – 1, Paige DeLapp (Northwest Univ.) 2:17.46. SPU placers – 7, Kelsey Brown 2:23.88; 11, Krysta Carrick 2:33.23.
1500 – 1, Rachael Johnson (WWU) 4:44.26. No SPU competitors.
3000 – 1, Sarah Porter (WWU) 4:35.75. SPU placers – 4, Heidi Laabs-Johnson 10:57.32; 6, Robyn Zeidler 11:14.26.
5000 – 1, Kristi Fairbanks (WWU) 18:47.54. No SPU competitors.
100 hurdles – 1, Tanja Bjornsson (WWU) 14.69 (meet record, breaks old record of 14.76 by Michelle Howe of WWU in 2010). SPU placers – 2, Ali Worthen 14.71!; 3, Terra Schumacher 14.86!; 4, Jennifer Pike 15.29*; 5, Katy Gross 15.33*.
400 hurdles – 1, Pike (SPU) 1:04.69!. Other SPU placer – 3, Natalie Nobbs 1:07.40.
3000 steeplechase – 1, Phoebe Hartnett (WWU) 11:30.76. SPU placers – 3, Carrick 11:59.53; 4, Kayla Wilkins 12:14.81; 5, Josie Becker 12:41.52.
4x100 relay – 1, Western Washington 48.70. No SPU team.
4x400 relay – 1, Western Washington 4:00.20. No SPU team.
High jump – 1, Gross (SPU) 5-2 ¼ / 1.58m*. Other SPU placer – T4, Ariana Warren 4-10 ¼ / 1.48m.
Pole vault – 1, Melissa Peaslee (SPU) 12-1 ½ / 3.70m#. Other SPU placer – 3, Terra Schumacher 11-7 ¾ / 3.55m!.
Long jump – 1, Worthen (SPU) 19-7 ½ / 5.98m#. Other SPU placers – 2, Trinna Miranda 18-6 / 5.64m!; 3, Gross 17-10 ¼ / 5.44m!.
Triple jump – 1, Miranda 36-9 ¾ / 11.22m*. No other SPU competitors.
Shot put – 1, Shaina Afoa (CWU) 43-1 ½ / 13.14m. SPU placer – 8, Briana Clarke 34-2 ¾ / 10.43m.
Discus – 1, Elizabeth Thatcher (Saint Martin's) 142-8 / 43.48m. No SPU competitors.
Hammer – 1, Jordan Stueckle (CWU) 154-3 / 47.01m. SPU placer – 8, Clarke 121-7 / 37.05m.
Javelin – 1, Samantha Hull (Saint Martin's) 130-11 / 39.90m. SPU placers – 4, Gross 122-5 / 37.32m*; 5, Brittany Tri 122-3 ; 37.26m*; 6, Pike 121-7 / 37.05m*; 7, Danae VerMulm 112-1 / 34.17m.

# NCAA provisional qualifying
! GNAC automatic qualifying
*GNAC provisional qualifying