Complete Day 1 results (PDF)

MONMOUTH, Ore. – AJ Baker didn't think he could go any harder in the final stages of the steeplechase at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference track and field meet on Friday.

The Seattle Pacific sophomore was wrong – and by day's end, he had a spot on the awards stand to prove it.

Baker made another major time drop, picked off three guys in front of him in the final half lap and came home in third place on the first day of the two-day championship meet at Western Oregon University.

Baker's time for 3,000 meters around the track at McArthur Field was 9 minutes, 12.98 seconds – nearly 14 seconds better than his previous best of 9:26.95 that he set just last Saturday in the Ken Foreman-Ken Shannon Invitational. And that time was eight seconds faster than he had run two weeks prior to that.

“I've been blessed that there has been a little bit of a trend over the last couple weeks of taking off big chunks,” said Baker (AuGres, Mich.). “I was hoping to keep the momentum going in here – and I guess I did.”

Saturday's final day of competition starts with field events at 10:45 a.m., and running events at 12:30 p.m.

Baker easily eclipsed the NCAA Division II provisional qualifying standard of 9:20.00. It also moved him from 44th in the country all the way up to 24th pending the outcome of other meets this weekend.





He came into GNACs seeded fifth, yet wound up barely half a step away from second place, which went to Brandon Snook of Western Oregon in 9:12.90. As expected, Micah Chelimo of Alaska Anchorage won, defending his title in 9:03.22.

Seattle Pacific is in sixth place teamwise after the first day with 16 points. Central Washington leads with 73, and pre-meet favorite Western Oregon is next with 62.

Baker wasn't the only Falcons distance runner making some waves on a day when conditions were actually spring-like – sunny with temperatures in the mid-60s, a vast improvement from most of the other wet, windy meet days that have typified the spring.

Sophomore Nate Seely, who has missed most of the past few weeks with an injury, came out with a season-best performance in the 800 meters. Seely finished second in his heat in 1:53.17, getting barely out-leaned at the wire by Ryan Hansen of Western Oregon (1:53.06).

Seely's time was nearly a full second faster than his previous season best of 1:54.15, which has been on the books since March 26 from the Stanford Invitational. But it leaves Seely well within reach of his PR of 1:52.90, and the NCAA Division II provisional qualifying time of 1:52.55 heading into Saturday's finals, in which he will be seeded fourth.

The Falcons earned three other finals slots for Saturday. Senior Micah Grounds (San Diego, Calif.) made it in the 100; sophomore Nate Johnson (Boise, Idaho), coming off his victory in the GNAC decathlon last week, got into the 110 hurdles; and sophomore Ryan Endresen (Portland, Ore.) qualified in the 400 hurdles. Endresen is seeded No. 3; Groudns and Johnson are both No. 8 seeds.

Baker was running in sixth place for most of the 3,000 meters in the steeplechase -- and that was his position heading into the final lap. But he passed two of the runners in front of him coming over the second-to-last barrier, reeled in one more coming out of the water barrier, then went stride-for-stride with Snook over the last hurdle and to the finish line.

“The last lap and a half, I didn't want to go any harder,” Baker acknowledged. “But (coach) Erika (Daligcon) was cheering for me, and Chad (former SPU star Meis) was yelling for me. … I figured there was no time like the present, so I went for it.”


NCAA MEN'S TRACK AND FIELD
GNAC Championships
Friday, May 13, 2011
McArthur Field at Western Oregon University/Monmouth, Ore.

Team scores – 1, Central Washington 73; 2, Western Oregon 62; 3, Western Washington 56; 4, Alaska Anchorage 26; 5, Northwest Nazarene 25; 6, Seattle Pacific 16; 7, Saint Martin's 6; 8, Simon Fraser 5; 9, MSU Billings 4.

FINALS
(Top 8 score points: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1)
10,000 – 1, Jordan Welling (WWU) 30:25.75. SPU placer – 10, Will Harrison 33:13.64.
3000 steeplechase – 1, Micah Chelimo (UAA) 9:03.22. SPU placer – 3, AJ Baker 9:12.98.
High jump – 1, Brennan Boyes (CWU) 6-7 / 2.01m. No SPU competitors.
Long jump – 1, David Registe (UAA) 24-6 ¼ / 7.47m. No SPU competitors.
Shot put – 1, Jason Slowey (WOU) 53-5 / 16.28m. No SPU competitors.
Discus – 1, Ben Elder (WWU) 167-1 / 50.92m. No SPU competitors.

SEMIFINALS
(Top 8 to Saturday's finals)
100 – 1, David Registe (UAA) 10.78. SPU qualifier – 8, Micah Grounds 11.28. Other SPU placer – 11, Dustin Bratten 11.43.
200 – 1, Registe (UAA) 21.93. No SPU qualifiers. SPU placer – 9, Grounds 22.96.
400 – 1, Andrew Boss (SFU) 48.96. No SPU qualifiers. SPU placer – 9, Dusty Duncan 50.17.
800 – 1, Alfred Kangogo (UAA) 1:52.12. SPU qualifier – 4, Nate Seely 1:53.17. No other SPU competitors.
110 hurdles – 1, Jordan Werner (WOU) 15.26. SPU qualifier – 8, Nate Johnson 15.60. No other SPU competitors.
400 hurdles – 1, Shaun Ward (UAA) 53.04. SPU qualifier – 3, Ryan Endresen 54.30. No other SPU competitors.