Complete results (PDF)

SEATTLE – Ali Worthen didn't waste any time putting her name onto the NCAA indoor track and field provisional qualifying list.
 
Matter of fact, it took her less than nine seconds in the opening meet of the season.
 
The Seattle Pacific senior logged a personal-best time of 8.85 seconds Saturday morning, taking fourth place in the 60-meter hurdles at the UW Indoor Preview, and giving her the inside track toward a ticket to Albuquerque for the Division II nationals in March.
 
Then, just for good measure, Worthen (Coos Bay, Ore.) measured up to national standards in the high jump as well, clearing 5 feet, 6 inches to tie for fourth place and earn a spot on that NCAA provisional list.
 
Along with a Great Northwest Athletic Conference automatic qualifying mark of 18-1 in the long jump, it was highly productive day for Worthen at the Dempsey Indoor facility on the University of Washington campus.
 
But Worthen was particularly stoked about her performance in the hurdles. Her 8.85 not only was a PR, it was her first time below the 9-second mark. Her previous best was 9.09 seconds in 2009; her 2011 best was 9.16 – and she went 9.01 in Saturday morning's prelims.
 
“My goal was to break 9, and when I got 9:01, I was like, 'I just have to push a little harder.'
 
In the finals, Worthen did exactly that, breaking that barrier – and bettering the 8.95 NCAA provisional qual mark.
 
“That's just a bonus, because you kind of look toward the end of the season for (an NCAA time), so I'm very happy to be there already,” Worthen said. “I felt really smooth and felt like I was getting it down – and there are so many things that I can still work on.”
 
Worthen's 5-6 high jump was a quarter-inch higher than the NCAA provisional standard. She nearly pulled off a provisional-qualifying triple, as she flew 18-1 in the long jump. That was good for sixth place and leaves her just 1 ½ inches away from a spot on the national list. In any case, she became a GNAC automatic qualifier in all three events.
 
Sophomore Kishia Mitchell (Puyallup, Wash./Rogers HS) also gained a guaranteed place in next month's conference championships in the 60-meter dash. Mitchell clocked a personal-best 7.91 seconds, good for 20^th place. That was four-hundredths of a second better than her fastest freshman time. The NCAA provisional standard is 7.75.
 
Mitchell also was GNAC provisional qualifier in the 200, placing sixth on Saturday with a PR of 25.84. Her previous best was 25.95.

Seniors Natty Plunkett (Bellevue, Wash./Newport HS) and Heidi Laabs-Johnson (Salt Lake City, Utah) were automatic conference automatic qualifiers in the 3,000 meters. Plunkett was 19th in 10:21.48; Laabs-Johnson was 20th in 10:21.51.
 
Several other Falcons also put GNAC provisional qualifying marks into the books. Freshman Tasia Baldwin accounted for three of those: 13^th place in the 200 (26.41), 14^th in the long jump (17-0 ¾) and 39^th in the 60-meter dash (8.14).
 
Also accounting for multiple provisional performances were junior Katy Gross (Everett, Wash./Cascade HS; 15^th in the long jump at 17-0 ½, and 16^th in the 60 hurdles at 9.39) and junior Trinna Miranda (Tigard, Ore.; 22^nd in the triple jump at 35-3, and 27^th in the long jump at 16-4 ¼).
 
The Falcons are off next weekend, then will be back in Dempsey on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 27 and 28, for the UW Invitational.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD
UW Indoor Preview
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Dempsey Indoor / Seattle, Wash.
 
Team scores – Not kept.
 
60-meter dash – 1, Geronne Black (Portland St.) 7.49. SPU placers – 20, Kishia Mitchell 7.91!; 39, Tasia Baldwin 8.14*; 43, BryAnne Wochnick 8.27.
200 – 1, NyEma Sims (Concordia-Portland) 24.97. SPU placers – 6, Mitchell 25.84*; 13, Baldwin 26.41*; 19, Wochnick 26.87; 21, Emily Quatier 26.99.
400 – 1, Shataya Hendricks (Stanford) 56.06. SPU placers – 7, Myisha Valentine 58.83*; 8, Quatier 59.03*; 16, Kelsey Chase 1:01.23; 22, Natalie Nobbs 1:01.99; 27, Gabriella Serventi 1:03.26.
600 – 1, Carline Muir (Legacy Athletics) 1:32.94. No SPU entries.
800 – 1, Jessica Smith (Valley Royals) 2:067.48. SPU placers – 14, McKayla Fricker 2:18.51*; 18, Jasmine Johnson 2:20.62*.
Mile – 1, Jackie Areson (Nike) 4:43.13. SPU placer – 31, Josie Becker 5:35.02.
3000 – 1, Lisa Uhl (Unattached) 9:10.36. SPU placers – 19, Natty Plunkett 10:21.48; 20, Heidi Laabs-Johnson 10:21.51; 40, Robyn Zeidler 11:00.19.
60 hurdles – 1, Trinity Wilson (EOYDC) 8.34. SPU placers – 4, Ali Worthen 8.85#; 16, Katy Gross 9.39*; 28, Maliea Luquin 9.71*.
4x400 relay – 1, Stanford 'A' 3:49.37. SPU placer – 10, Seattle Pacific (Serventi, Luquin, Johnson, Fricker) 4:14.30.
4x800 relay – 1, Washington 'A' 9:01.33. No SPU team.
High jump – 1, Emma Nuttall (Trinity Western) 5-11 ¼ / 1.81m. SPU placers – T4, Worthen 5-6 / 1.68m#!; 15, Gross 5-2 ¼ / 1.58m*; T22, Emily Corona 4-10- ¼ / 1.48m*.
Pole vault – 1, Keisa Monterola (E. Washington) 13-7 ¾ / 4.16m.; T2, Carly Dockendorf (Unattached) 13-1 ¾ / 4.01m. SPU competitors – Terra Schumacher no height.
Long jump – 1, Jamesha Youngblood (Unattached) 20-8 ½ / 6.31m. SPU placers – 6, Worthen 18-1 / 5.51m!; 14, Baldwin 17-0 ¾ / 5.20m*; 15, Gross 17-0 ½ / 5.19m*; 27, Trinna Miranda 16-4 ¼ / 4.98m*; 38, Nobbs 15-6 / 4.72m; 49, Luquin 14-5 ¼ / 4.40m.
Triple jump – 1, Erica McLain (Unattached) 43-8 / 13.31m. SPU placers – 22, Miranda 35-3 / 10.74m*.
Shot put – 1,Tera Novy (Team Evolution) 48-8 ¾ / 14.85m. No SPU competitors.
Weight throw – 1, Elisa Bryant (UW) 57-4 ¼ / 17.48m. SPU placer – 23, Emily Pitts 22-6 ½ / 6.87m.

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