SEATTLE – Jasmine Johnson doesn't want anything to do with "the bubble."
 
Not after last year.
 
So on Friday afternoon at the Husky Classic, the Seattle Pacific senior and three of her speedy teammates did all they could to keep themselves off of it.
 
Johnson, freshman Jessica Rawlins, and juniors Lynelle Decker and Anna Patti raced to the 10^th-fastest 4,000-meter distance medley relay time in NCAA Division II, putting themselves squarely in position to snag a berth for next month's national championship meet.





The Falcon foursome – Rawlins running the leadoff 1,200 meters, followed by Johnson's 400, Decker's 800, and Patti's 1,600 – won their heat and were fifth overall. For their first race together, they clocked 11 minutes, 50.92 seconds at Dempsey Indoor on the University of Washington campus.

That's well ahead of the provisional standard of 12:10.84, and nearly eight seconds of Eastern Washington, the runner-up in that heat.

 

"We just started out great with Jessica running the 1,200 meters of her life," head coach Karl Lerum said. "That set the team up so well for the next three, and they came through and held up their end. They did a great job of competing without anyone around them. That was just a magnificent effort out there."
 
The NCAA accepts 12 relay teams for nationals, although it can add more if space is available. Last season, Johnson (Federal Way, Wash. / Federal Way HS) was on an SPU 4x400 relay that was sitting in 11th place with one final day of meets before the national entry deadline.
 
But on that fateful Sunday, two teams ran faster, pushing the Falcons down to 13^th – and ultimately out of the meet when only the minimum of 12 were taken.
 
Johnson, more than anyone on Friday's DMR squad, doesn't want to experience that feeling again, knowing plenty of races remain to be run around the country before the field is set for this year's NCAA meet, scheduled for March 13-14 in Birmingham, Ala.

 

"It's so great. I'm so relieved right now," she said. "Right when I got the baton (from Rawlins), I was like, 'It's go time.' I went out super hard and I got around the corner so fast, it was like the whole race was a blur. I didn't really know how fast I was running, so I just got the baton to Lynelle and was like, 'Hopefully, hopefully we've got it.'"
 
The current 12^th-place time is 11:53.93 by Hillsdale (Mich).
 
Rawlins (Mill Creek, Wash. / Henry M. Jackson HS) got SPU off to a fast start when she split 3 minutes, 35 seconds for her 1,200-meter leg. She went out with the leaders from the gun, and never backed off before handing the baton to Johnson.
 
"I just tried to get in the top half and hold on," Rawlins said.
 
Johnson immediately sprinted into the lead, finishing her one lap plus 93 meters on the 307-meter oval in approximately 57.8 seconds – faster than her season best of 57.97 in the open 400 meters. From Johnson, the baton went to Decker (Vancouver, Wash. / Mountain View HS). She stretched out the lead some more, and completed her 800 in 2:15.
 
That left it up to Patti (Renton, Wash. / Lindbergh HS) to run the final 1,600 meters essentially by herself. Like Rawlins, Johnson, and Decker, she never eased off, finishing in about 5:01 for the final time of 11:50.92.
 
For a few minutes, that was the No. 9 time nationally. But Great Northwest Athletic Conference rival Alaska Anchorage, competing in the next heat, clocked 11:44.78, jumping from No. 10 to No.4 on the list, with Seattle Pacific then taking over the 10th spot.
 
The University of Portland, a D1 school, was the overall winner in 11:36.66.
 
SPU's only Husky Classic entry was the relay. But most all of the Falcons will be in action on Sunday at the UW Indoor Open, beginning at 9 a.m.