Complete results (PDF)

LACEY, Wash. – Evan Bradford kept coming closer and closer to breaking four minutes in the 1,500 meters: seven-tenths of a second on March 12 in Tacoma. Then five-tenths on March 19 in Eugene. Then three-tenths on April 23 in Bellingham.

On Saturday afternoon in Lacey, Seattle Pacific freshman Bradford not only beat the clock, he came from behind to beat some veteran competition at the Saint Martin's Invitational.

Bradford (Santa Barbara, Calif.) surged past two Saints on their home track in the final 100 meters, stopping the clock in 3 minutes, 57.50 seconds.

“I knew I could do it. It was just a matter of getting getting a race where I felt good and where there were good people around me,” Bradford said. “I got the pace I needed, then they dropped off the pace a little bit, and that's when I took it.

“I can't ask for much more than that.”

The Falcons finished third as a team with 68 ½ points. Central Washington won with 225, and Western Washington was second with 153.

Bradford's time, while still just Great Northwest Athletic Conference provisional qualifying mark, jumped him seven places from 20th to 13th on the list – essentially taking him from out of the picture to, at the very least, on the bubble for a spot in the GNAC Championships on May 13-14 at Western Oregon University in Monmouth. Last year, a total of 16 made into the 1,500 for conference.

“It was my best time and one of my best races,” Bradford said. “Originally, I was planning on going out in 63 (seconds per lap) and just going as fast as I could to hit (the GNAC automatic time) of 3:55. Then I had those two Saint Martin's guys who were faster than me, so I just wanted to see what pace they were going to go.”

Bradford beat Saint Martin's juniors Kyle Van Santen (out-leaning him at the wire, Van Santen had a 3:57.57) and Spencer Hunt (4:00.17) to the line on the Saints' home track, giving him his third collegiate victory – all in the 1,500.

Like Bradford, SPU distance coach Erika Daligcon was just waiting for the day when it all came together for him.

“We know he's capable of that. He has been running real strong workouts, especially this last week,” Daligcon said. “I said, 'Evan, you're ready for this. You just have to put it together.' He really stuck to his pace. There was just one lap he was a little bit off, but then he was faster on his finish. This race showed some maturity, and that's impressive.”

Bradford was a 1,600-meter man at San Marcos High School in Santa Barbara, but quickly has taken a liking to the 1,500-meter distance.

“It doesn't seem like 100 meters would be that big of a difference, but it has been awesome,” Bradford said.

Falcons sophomore AJ Baker (Au Gres, Mich.) put himself on to the GNAC provisional list for the 1,500 with a career-best time of 4:00.72 that earned him fifth place. Baker, who last week became a GNAC automatic qualifier in the steeplechase with a career-best and meet-record mark of 9:34.98 at the Western Washington Not-So-Twilite meet in Bellingham, shattered his lifetime best of 4:13.89 in the 1,500, which he set last year. Saturday was his first run of the 2011 season in the 1,500.

Sophomore Billy Martin (Edmonds, Wash./King's HS) took second place in the javelin at 186 feet, 7 inches (56.87 meters), just short of his career-best 189-0 / 57.61 set on April 2 in Tacoma.

Sophomore Ryan Endresen (Portland, Ore.) was second in the 400-meter hurdles in 55.22 seconds, and senior Micah Grounds (San Diego, Calif.) was third in the 200 (22.96) and tied with freshman teammate Dusty Duncan (Lynden, Wash./Lynden HS) for third in the 100 (11.40).

On Monday and Tuesday, SPU sophomore Nate Johnson (Boise, Idaho) will take part in the GNAC decathlon championships at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho. Johnson finished fourth last year with 6,040 points. He won the GNAC indoor heptathlon in February at NNU.

The Falcons will be a part of history next Saturday at the Ken Foreman-Ken Shannon Invitational. It will be the final track meet ever in Husky Stadium. A major renovation at the stadium will begin following the 2011 football season, and a new track will be built a short distance to the north near the soccer fields on the UW campus.

NCAA MEN'S TRACK AND FIELD

Saint Martin's Invitational

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Saint Martin's University/Lacey, Wash.

 

Team scores – 1, Central Washington 225; 2, Western Washington 153; 3, Seattle Pacific 68.5; 4, Pacific Lutheran 67; 5, Saint Martin's 54; 6, Green River CC 47.5; 7, Northwest University 40; 8, Everett CC 27; 9, Olympic College 19; 10, Club Northwest 10; 11, Skagit Valley CC 9; 12, Evergreen State 8; 13, Clark College 5.

 

100 – 1, I.V. Reeves (PLU) 11.10. SPU placers – T3, Micah Grounds and Dusty Duncan 11.40; 7, Dustin Bratten 11.51.

200 – 1, Scott Morrison (CWU) 22.20. SPU placers – 3, Grounds 22.96; 9, Bratten 23.69.

400 – 1, Morrison (CWU) 48.38. No SPU competitors.

800 – 1, Nathan Power (CWU) 1:56.33. SPU placers – 5, Nathanael Sleight 1:58.63; 8, AJ Baker 1:59.84.

1500 – 1, Evan Bradford (SPU) 3:57.50*. Other SPU placers – 5, Baker 4:00.72*; 7, Jacob Wahlenmaier 4:02.91; 12, Will Harrison 4:13.34.

5000 – 1, Nate Carlson (Unattached) 15:20.60. SPU placers – 9, Daniel Hamilton 16:19.79; 16, Mat Edell 17:26.14.

110 hurdles – 1, Darnell Harris (CWU) 15.92. No SPU competitors.

400 hurdles – 1, Barrett Bollen (PLU) 54.69. SPU placer – 2, Ryan Endresen 55.22!.

3000 steeplechase – 1, Dylan Peterson (WWU) 9:39.74. No SPU competitors.

4x100 relay – 1, Central Washington 43.00. SPU DQ.

4x400 relay – 1, Pacific Lutheran 3:19.26. No SPU team.

High jump – 1, Brennan Boyes (CWU) 6-6 ¾ / 2.00m. No SPU competitors.

Pole vault – 1, Scott McCoy (CNW) 15-2 ¼ / 4.63m. SPU placer – 4, Ray Zoellick 13-8 ½ / 4.18m.

Long jump – 1, Manny Melo (CWU) 21-10 ¾ / 6.67m. No SPU competitors.

Triple jump – 1, James Cho (CWU) 46-2 ½ / 14.08m. No SPU competitors.

Shot put – 1, Ben Elder (WWU) 50-6 ¾ / 15.41m. No SPU competitors.

Discus – 1, Michael Hoffman (WWU) 162-10 / 49.64m. No SPU competitors.

Hammer – 1, Hoffman (WWU) 185-8 / 56.59m. SPU placer – 10, Billy Martin 134-4 / 40.96m.

Javelin – 1, Luke Fischer (NW) 198-5 / 60.48m. SPU placers – 2, Martin 186-7 / 56.87m; 4, Jace Derwin 180-0 / 54.87m.

 

! GNAC automatic qualifier

*GNAC provisional qualifier