Complete final results (PDF)
        ACTION VIDEO: Pole vault
        ACTION VIDEO: 400 hurdles

MONMOUTH, Ore. – His coach wasn't expecting it. His teammates barely could believe it. Even Ray Zoellick himself seemed a bit dazed by it all.

But facts are facts. And the facts at McArthur Field were clear on Saturday afternoon:

Seattle Pacific junior Zoellick – two years removed from his last major postseason completion at the Washington state high school meet – had just won the Great Northwest Athletic Conference pole vault championship.





Zoellick soared a career-high 14 feet, 11 inches / 4.55 meters – a bar he had never cleared before, but cleared on his first try Saturday – to beat out Western Washington's Cal Rosenberg for the crown.

“I wasn't expecting at all to get first. Third or fourth were my hopes,” said Zoellick (Bothell, Wash./Cedar Park Christian HS), who came into the meet on the Western Oregon University campus tied for just the seventh seed with a season- and career-best height of 14-5 ¼ / 4.40 meters. I PR'd (at 14-11) and was hanging around second place until Ryan (Brown) no-heighted.

“It was a lucky win today.”

It was not, however, the only highlight for Seattle Pacific. In fact, the Falcons had enough of those highlights to finish with 63 points. That was their second-highest total ever in a GNAC meet (their high was 85 ½ in 2005) and their most since scoring 51 in 2006.

-- Sophomore Ryan Endresen finally broke the 54-second barrier and got his NCAA Division II provisional qualifying time in the 400-meter hurdles. Endresen stopped the watch in 53.78 seconds.

-- Sophomore Billy Martin, who didn't even throw the javelin last year, threw a career-best 189 feet, 2 inches / 57.67 meters, to earn the third-place step on the awards podium. Jace Derwin was right behind him at 184-0 / 56.08 meters to make it a 3-4 SPU finish.

-- Senior Micah Grounds (San Diego, Calif.) raced to an eighth-place finish in the 100-meter dash in 11.39 seconds, giving the Falcons their first sprint points at conference since 2006, and their first points in the 100 since 2005.

-- On Friday in the opening event of the meet, sophomore AJ Baker knocked nearly 14 seconds off his career-best in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, coming from sixth place all the way up to third on the final lap.

“They came out ready to go from the first race,” Falcons coach Karl Lerum said. “AJ Baker came out and set the tone for a couple days. Ray steps up and gets the (pole vault) win. Nate Johnson wins the decathlon (last week), then came back and performed in the hurdles (seventh in the 110 highs and pole vault (sixth). Nate Seely in the 800, and Ryan Endresen ran a great 400 hurdles.

“It was a great way to finish the season.”

Zoellick called his victory “lucky.” But he won it by getting his job done while those with the numerically better credentials – notably Western Washington's Brown and Rosenberg – were unable to get theirs done.

Brown came in as the defending GNAC and NCAA Division II champion, and in fact as the current D-2 leader at 17-2 ¾ / 5.25 meters. But he elected to pass on all of the earlier heights on Saturday, not entering the competition until the bar reached 15-5 / 4.70 meters. He missed on all three tries, barely nicking it on his final attempt.

Zoellick and Rosenberg also came up short on all three attempts at 15-5. But Zoellick had cleared 14-11 on his first attempt, while Rosenberg needed an additional try at that height.

That left Zoellick on top by virtue of fewer attempts to get up and over at 14-11 – which he would have considered a successful day, with or without the conference crown.

“It was super exciting (to clear 14-11). I had a little bit of adrenaline and confidence today,” Zoellick said. “It was a great day.”

And one that even Falcons pole vault coach Carly Dockendorf didn't see coming.

“When I got up this morning, I wasn't planning on this,” said a beaming Dockendorf, herself a world-caliber vaulter.

Zoellick just got back into serious competitive action this season after a two-year hiatus at the end of his high school career. He built his confidence on Saturday with easy clearances at the lower heights, as the bar started at 12-11 ½ / 3.95 meters, went up to 13-5 ¼ / 4.10, then went up in six-inch increments.

“I would probably say my first couple jumps were really good,” Zoellick said. “I was way over, and my run has been super-consistent today, and is something I've been working on. To have that was a big confidence builder.”

Endresen has been coming ever close to the 54-second mark in the 400 hurdles, having set a career-best of 54.21 seconds on April 9 at War IV in Spokane.

On Saturday, he left that barrier and all but one of the other title-race contenders behind him. Only Shaun Ward of Alaska Anchorage beat him to the line, crossing in 52.23.

“I was ecstatic,” said Endresen, who half walked, half skipped back to the tent to gather his sweats after the race. “It did feel extremely fast, and I just felt real good. I just tried to stick it out as long as I possibly could.”

Endresen was third in last year's race, and was seeded third for Saturday's finals.

“I was looking more at a time, just because my biggest goal was to break 54,” he said. “I knew I was going to get top three, but second was a bit of a surprise.”


NCAA MEN'S TRACK AND FIELD
GNAC Championships
Saturday, May 14, 2011
McArthur Field at Western Oregon University/Monmouth, Ore.

Final team scores – 1, Western Orego 203; 2, Western Washington 173 ½; 3, Central Washington 130; 4, Alaska Anchorage 103; 5, Northwest Nazarene 83 ½; 6, Seattle Pacific 63; 7, Simon Fraser 48; 8, Montana State Billings 8; 9, Saint Martin's 7.

SATURDAY'S FINALS
(Top 8 score: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1)

100 – 1, David Registe (UAA) 10.76. SPU placer – 8, Micah Grounds 11.39.
200 – 1, Registe (UAA) 21.69. No SPU placers.
400 – 1, Matt Kaino (WOU) 48.48. No SPU placers.
800 – 1, Kyle Larson (WOU) 1:56.09. SPU placer – 5, Nate Seely 1:56.72.
1500 – 1, Ryan Brockerville (SFU) 3:52.79. SPU placers – 7, Evan Bradford 3:57.81; 15, Jacob Wahlenmaier 4:06.88.
5000 – 1, Micah Chelimo (UAA) 14:29.41. No SPU competitors.
110 hurdles – 1, Brett Campbell (WOU) 15.49. SPU placer – 7, Nate Johnson 16.04.
400 hurdles – 1, Shaun Ward (UAA) 52.23. SPU placer – 2, Ryan Endresen 53.78.
4x100 relay – 1, Alaska Anchorage 42.20. SPU placer – 4, Seattle Pacific (Dusty Duncan, Endresen, Grounds, Dustin Bratten) 42.78.
4x400 relay – 1, Alaska Anchorage 3:17.93. SPU placer – 8, Seattle Pacific (Bratten, Seely, Endresen, Nathanael Sleight) 3:30.12.
Pole vault – 1, Ray Zoellick (SPU) 14-11 / 4.55m. Other SPU placer – 6, Johnson 13-11 ¼ / 4.25m.
Triple jump – 1, Tim Clendaniel (WWU) 48-0 ¾ / 14.65m. No SPU competitors.
Hammer – 1, Michael Hoffman (WWU) 179-9 / 54.78m. SPU placer – 13, Billy Martin 134-3 / 40.91m.
Javelin – 1, Will Crook (WOU) 196-1 / 59.78m. SPU placers – 3, Martin 189-2 / 57.67m; 4, Jace Derwin 184-0 / 56.08m.