Complete results
        VIDEOS:  Nate  Seely      Nate  Johnson      Seth  Pierson

NAMPA, Idaho – They call it 800-meter run.
 
Maybe they should call it the 800-meter Nate Seely instead.
 
After all, the Seattle Pacific junior effectively has put his name on it.
 
Seely turned the race into a runaway (and into a three-peat), Nate Johnson did some repeating of his own in the heptathlon, and Seth Pierson staged a dramatic comeback that yielded a narrow victory in the mile on Saturday at the Great Northwest Athletlic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships.
 
The three titles that they laid claim to in the Jackson's Track facility at the Idaho Center was the most the Falcons have ever won in a single GNAC indoor meet. It gave them 44 points for sixth place as a team, just half a point behind fifth-place Saint Martin's.
 
Seely (Lynden, Wash./Lynden HS) was expecting a close battle with Ryan Hansen, a friendly rival from Western Oregon. Three weeks ago at the UW Invitational in Seattle, they ran side by side in the same heat, with Hansen out-leaning Seely at the wire, 1:52.32 to 1:52.36.
 
That close battle didn't last very long this time. With the pack still bunched tight after the first of four laps on the 200-meter banked oval, Seely made a big move near the end of the second lap to take the lead. By the end of the third, he was well in front and was never challenged after that, cruising across the finish line in 1:54.10. Hansen was second in 1:55.61.
 
“If you go out too fast, you get kicked down at the end. So I went out slow and stuck with the pack, and I knew that was to my advantage,” said Seely, who has won all three titles from something less than the top-seeded position. (He was the No. 2 seed for this one.) “The last two laps, I turned it on, and the last lap, I ran away.
 
“I was pretty confident – probably too confident, but that's the way you have to be in these races,” added Seely, only the second Falcon male to win three straight titles in a GNAC indoor event. (Chris Randolph three-peated in the long jump from 2004-06). “I knew I would have a fast kick, and it would be difficult to (chase) me down.”
 
Johnson (Boise, Idaho) came into Saturday's final three events in second place, 151 points behind first-day leader Jake Hyde of Western Oregon.
 
He promptly took the lead with a second-place time of 8.82 in the 60-meter hurdles that was a scant .01 away from his personal best. Then – using poles he had hadn't used before – he vaulted higher than he ever had indoors, clearing 14 feet, 3 ¼ inches to finish third. That gave him 4,060 points heading into the meet-ending 1,000 meters, with Central Washington's Brandon Roddewig (4,041) and Wildcats teammate Scott Hunter (4,028) close behind.
 
Johnson quickly erased any doubts that the title would be his, settling into a solid second place, coming across the line in a PR time of 2:46.71, and finishing with a meet-record 4,860 points to put him 13^th on the NCAA Division II qualifying list.
 
“I got really nervous right before the 1,000, but I just knew I wanted to for the 800-point mark,” Johnson said. (His time was worth exactly 800.) “The pole vault felt good, and I actually borrowed a few poles. I got on some big poles that I hadn't jumped on recently, and it kind of worked out in my favor.”
 
Pierson was seeded just sixth going into the mile, in which Simon Fraser's Ryan Brockerville and Northwest Nazarene's Barak Watson were considered the favorites. But Pierson was never farther back than third place. While Brockerville appeared as if he might be ready to pull away on the final lap, Pierson stayed within reach, surged in front going around the final curve, and came through in 4:13.27. Brockerville clocked 4:13.45.
 
“When Brockerville took off, I was just trying to hang on with him,” Pierson said. “He got me a little bit, and I just tried to reel him back. In the last 50 meters, I started feeling pretty good and started closing the gap a little bit. I saw the prize right ahead, my legs started feeling better, and I wanted to go for it.”
 
 
NCAA INDOOR MEN'S TRACK & FIELD
GNAC Championships
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Jackson's Track at the Idaho Center / Nampa, Idaho
 
Team scores – 1, Western Oregon 142.5; 2, Central Washington 122; 3, Western Washington 110; 4, Northwest Nazarene 99; 5, Saint Martin's 44.5; 6, Seattle Pacific 44; 7, Montana State Billings 31; 8, Simon Fraser 30.
 
Heptathlon – 1, Nate Johnson (SPU) 4,860; 2, Scott Hunter (CWU) 4,757; 3, Jason Caryl (CWU) 4,582; 4, Brandon Roddewig (CWU) 4,573; 5, Greyson Kilgore (NNU) 4,538; 6, Jake Hyde (WOU) 4,213; 7, Michael Strasler (WWU) 4,051; 8, Michael Holland (StM) 3,929; 9, Colin Alexander (CWU) 3,907; 10, Tim Greene (NNU) 3,747; 11, Mark Wade (NNU) 2,968; Brock Steingruber (MSUB) DNF.
Heptathlon 60 hurdles – 1, Roddewig (CWU) 8.81 (788 points). SPU placer – 2, Johnson 8.82 (786).
Heptathlon pole vault – 1, Hunter (CWU) 15-3 / 4.65m (804 points). SPU placer – 3, Johnson 14-3 ¼ / 4.35mm (716).
Heptathlon 1,000 – 1, Colin Alexander (CWU) 2:43.00 (840 points). SPU placer – 2, Johnson 2:46.71 (800).
 
FINALS
60-meter dash – 1, Bryan Mack (CWU) 6.90. No SPU competitors.
200 – 1, Maurus Hope (NNU) 21.91. SPU competitor – David Ferguson DQ (lane violation).
400 – 1, Maurus Hope (NNU) 48.45 (meet record, breaks old record of 49.17 set by Matt Kaino of Western Oregon in 2010). No SPU competitors.
800 – 1, Nate Seely (SPU) 1:54.10. Other SPU placers – 6, Alex Horton 1:57.24; 14, Seth Pierson 1:59.88.
Mile – 1, Seth Pierson (SPU) 4:13.27. Other SPU placer – 12, AJ Baker 4:27.58.
5,000 – 1, Barak Watson (NNU) 14:51.07. SPU placers – 8, Will Harrison 15:12.81; 16, Jordan Wolfe 16:22.05; 17, Gavin Brand 17:02.39.
4x400 relay – 1, Western Oregon 3:18.60. SPU placer – 5, Seattle Pacific (David Ferguson, Ryan Endresen, Seely, Pierson) 3:24.40.
60 hurdles – 1, Brett Campbell (WOU) 8.37. No SPU placers.
Pole vault – 1, Scott Hunter (CWU) 14-11 / 4.55m. SPU placer – 4, Ray Zoellick 14-7 ¼ / 4.45m.
Triple jump – 1, Matson Hardie (WOU) 47-3 ¾ / 14.42m.
Weight throw – 1, Sam Washington (StM) 55-11 ¾ / 17.06m. No SPU competitors.