THE SCHEDULE:
                             SPU at NCAA Division II Championships
                             Thursday-Saturday, May 21-23, 2015
                             Grand Valley Track & Field Stadium / Allendale, Mich.
                             THURSDAY: Field 8 a.m., track 1:50 p.m. (No SPU events)
                             FRIDAY: Field 11 a.m., track 2:30 p.m. (800 prelims 3 p.m.)
                             SATURDAY: Field 8 a.m., track 11 a.m
                                                (800 finals 12:45 p.m.; 5000 finals, 2:00 p.m.)
                             Live Webcasts (all times Pacific):
                             Thursday, 1:30 p.m.   Friday, 2:15 p.m.  Saturday, 10:30 a.m.
                             Live results
 

        Weekly release, with athlete bios and updated season lists (PDF)
        Women's heat sheets        Men's heat sheets (PDF)
        Meet home page (HTML)        Meet schedule (PDF)
 
SEATTLE – Lynelle Decker knows all about running on the first day of an NCAA championship track meet. Now, she wants to find out what it's like to run on the last day.
 
Ditto for Anna Patti.
 
In a nutshell, that's the goal for the two Seattle Pacific juniors as they head to Michigan for this week's Division II nationals.
 
Competition at Grand Valley Track & Field Stadium on the campus of Grand Valley State University begins Thursday. But the two Falcons will have that day off for final preparations. Decker runs in the 800-meter preliminaries on Friday at 3:00 p.m. Pacific time, with finals set for Saturday at 12:45 p.m. PDT.
 
Patti's only race will be the 5,000 meters, and she'll step to the starting line in the single-heat, timed-finals event on Saturday at 2 p.m. Pacific.
 
Decker ran in the 800 last year in Michigan, placing 14^th in the prelims and not advancing to finals. This will be Patti's first outdoor nationals. In March, she ran at NCAA indoors on Seattle Pacific's ninth-place distance medley relay, a team that also included Decker.
 
KEEPING TRACK OF THE ACTION
Fans will be able to keep up with the two SPU competitors, and with the other 752 athletes in Michigan this week. The NCAA will provide a free live Webcast. Live results will be available through Prime Time Timing. Appropriate links can be found at the top of this story.
 
PRACTICALLY PERFECT FORECAST
Athletes of all persuasions, whether they're running, jumping, or throwing, should find the conditions to their liking this weekend.
 
The forecast calls for sunny skies all three days, and mild temperatures. Highs on Thursday and Friday are expected to be in the low to mid 60s, pushing toward 70 by Saturday. All three mornings likely will be cool, coming off of overnight readings in the low to mid 40s. Friday could be breezy.
 
SCOUTING THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
When Lynelle Decker started the season, she had never broken a 2:10 in the 800. When she finally did, she skipped right past the 2:09s, running 2:08.13 on April 17 at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, Calif.
                   
That has her as the No. 7 seed this week. She is in the third of the three preliminary heats on Friday. The top two finishers in each heat automatically advance to Saturday's championship races. Once those six spots are determined, the next three fastest times round out the field.
 
Essentially, Decker can approach her prelim the same as she did at the GNAC Championships. That's because her heat also includes Simon Fraser senior Lindsey Butterworth, the national leader at 2:04.11. Decker won't have to worry about trying to beat Butterworth, but instead can focus on beating everyone else. Her 2:08.13 ranks third in that heat, with Chico State senior Bailey Henshaw owning the second-fastest time of 2:07.67.
 
By the time she races, Decker also will know the results of the first two heats and what kind of time she'll need to advance as one of the three wild cards if she does not finish in the top two.
 
Anna Patti certainly will be going for a fast time in the 5,000 – coming in at 16:41.56, she says her goal is to get as close as possible to 16:30. But instead of having focus to solely on the clock, which runners must do during the regular season to make sure they even get to nationals, she can just go race, pursuing a spot in the top 8 with its accompanying All-American distinction.
 
Though seeded No. 11, that top-8 spot is well within Patti's reach. In fact, the No. 8 seed belongs to someone very familiar to her: Western Washington senior Katelyn Steen, at 16:35.53.
 
Patti will be one of 24 runners in the 5K. Two Michigan runners – both juniors – are the top two seeds: No. 1 Emily Oren of Hillsdale (16:17.40) and No. 2 Amy Cymerman of Grand Valley State (16:20.59), who gets to run on her home track.
 
Joining Patti and Steen are two other GNAC competitors: No. 4 seed Jennifer Johnson of Simon Fraser (16:26.59) and No. 17 Amy Johnston of Alaska Anchorage (16:52.50). At GNAC on May 9, Johnson won (17:04.46), Patti was fifth (17:14.84) and Johnston seventh (17:18.99). Steen did not compete in that race.





SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
Lynelle Decker says …
(On her approach to Friday's preliminaries)
"I'm probably going to go for place because it seems more secure. I've raced the clock before and it has not worked, so I'm going to go for place. … But the time will come with that, I'm sure."
 
(On how to make it happen)
"For me, it's just remembering my splits and making sure I'm confident in them and can run them in any circumstance."
 
Anna Patti says …
(On going for time or place)
"I think I'll have both in my head. A lot of us are going for those magic top-8 spots. I think that's achievable because unlike lots of my competitors (who are in more than one event), I'll be fresh. That opens up some opportunities, so I want to make the most of that."
 
(On how she plans to race it)
"For me, we've talked in the last couple years about the five laps to go, and the middle section just before that. Chris (assistant coach Reed) and I talked about running it honest. That means you're running it really hard, but have more left at the end, and you know you're putting in the work in the middle that counts."

FALCON COMPETITORS IN A NUTSHELLYear – Junior.
How she got to NCAAs – Posted her entry time on April 17 at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, Calif. At that particular moment, it ranked No. 2 in the country. It also beat her previous personal best of 2:10.58.
What else she has done in 2015 – Placed 2^nd in the 800 (2:09.43) and won the 1,500 (4:29.60) at the GNAC Championships on May 9 in Monmouth, Ore. The 1,500 time would have been the No. 10 seed for NCAAs had she chosen to run it.
Previous national appearances – OUTDOOR: 2 (14^th in the 800 with a 2:10.82 in 2014; 20^th in the 1,500 with a 4:49.03 in 2013). INDOOR: 3 (14^th in the 800 with a 2:13.68, 9th-place distance medley relay in 2015; 11th in the 800 with a 2:11.86 in 2014; 15th in the 800 with a 2:13.06 in 2013). CROSS COUNTRY: 2 (No. 3 for SPU, No. 95 overall in 2013; No. 4 for SPU, No. 122 overall in 2012).
Storylines – This is Decker's ninth competitive season for the Falcons (three each in cross country, indoor, and outdoor), eight of which have seen her get to nationals. The only one she has missed was cross country last fall, as the Falcons did not qualify out of West Regionals in Billings, Mont. … The 1,500 title at the GNAC meet earlier this month was her first of any kind as a Falcon. … Did the 800 in six meets this spring, and never ran slower than an NCAA provisional time in any of them. … If it comes down to footspeed, Decker has shown that she definitely has some. At GNAC, she was subbed into the 4x400 relay when senior teammate Jasmine Johnson was unable to race because of an injury. The second Falcon to carry the baton, Decker's split was 59.01.
 
 Year – Junior.
How she got to NCAAs – Her first of two 5Ks this season was on April 3 at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival. The 16:41.56 she posted there was 38 seconds faster than her previous PR of 17:19.10 from 2014. On that day, it ranked No. 3 in Division II.
What else she has done in 2015: Won the GNAC outdoor 10,000 meter title on May 8 (37:00.02); placed 5^th in the 5,000 on May 9 (17:14.84). … Won the GNAC indoor 5,000-meter title on Feb. 20 (17:14.01, an NCAA provisional time; placed 3rd in the 3,000 on Feb. 21 (10:00.19, NCAA provisional). … Ran 1,600-meter anchor leg on the 9th-place NCAA distance medley relay team on March 13. … Placed 7th at NCAA West Regional cross country on Nov. 22 in Billings, Mont., coming within one place of qualifying for nationals as an individual.
Previous national appearances – OUTDOOR: 0. b 1 (Ran anchor leg on 9^th-place distance medley relay in 2015). CROSS COUNTRY: 2 (No. 1 for SPU, No. 72 overall in 2013; No. 6 for SPU, No. 132 overall in 2012).
Storylines – This meet will complete the national 'triple' for Patti. She has run in two NCAA cross country championships, and raced in her first NCAA indoor nationals in March. … Her 16:41.56 is the ninth-fastest in GNAC history. … Also posted a provisional qualifying time in the 10,000 (35:46.51) on April 16 at the Mt. SAC Relays, beating her old PR by exactly 58 seconds. That ranked No. 25 on the final national list. … From the trails to the track, 2014-15 has been by far her best year. Made USTFCCCA All-West Region in cross country, indoor 3K, 5K and distance medley relay, and outdoor 5K. … Known for her intelligent, patient racing tactics, which served her well during the GNAC outdoor 10,000. Came in as the No. 3 seed with an entry time 45 seconds slower than No. 1 and 18 seconds behind No. 2. Ran even with them and another competitor for 23 laps, then surged ahead at the start of Lap 24 and stretched it out from there, winning by 13 seconds over the top seed and 15 ahead of the second seed.

A LITTLE EXTRA MOTIVATION
That both of them are within reach of All-American status this weekend should be incentive enough for Decker and Patti. But they might be even a tad more fired up than some of their fellow competitors.
 
At the NCAA indoor nationals on March 13 in Birmingham, Ala., Decker ran the 800-meter leg and Patti was on the 1,600-meter leg of SPU's 4,000-meter distance medley relay team. On the last of the eight laps of their respective anchor legs, it was Patti and Alaska Anchorage's Beatrice Decker pushing toward the finish line with eighth place and the last All-American award at stake.
 
The scoreboard initially showed that SPU had prevailed. But a review of the video and the times gave the edge to Anchorage by the most minimum of margins – one one-hundredth of a second, to be precise: 11:40.67 for the Seawolves, 11:40.68 for the Falcons.
 
"We improved so much in just a few weeks," Patti said afterward. (Indeed, their time was nearly seven seconds faster than their season-best entry mark of 11:47.33). "That's consoling, but it's hard to be so close and miss it."
 
CONTINUNG A 34-YEAR TRADITION
In the spring of 1982, Ronald Reagan was starting his second year in the White House, the NCAA had just taken over sponsorship of women's track, and Lynelle Decker and Anna Patti were more than a decade away from even being born.
 
That makes this the 34^th NCAA women's meet, and SPU now has been represented in all 34 of them. But not just represented: The Falcons have scored team points in each of the first 33, meaning at least one placer in the top eight, with 18 individual championships.
 
Only one other school – St. Augustine's University of Raleigh, N.C. – has matched the Falcons' feat of participating and scoring in all 33 previous meets.
 
SPU's best finish (and best point total) was third place with 62 points in 1989. Its lowest total was one point in 1997 (39th place). Last year, McKayla Fricker's victory in the 800 was worth 10 points, tying the Falcons for 23rd among the 67 teams that scored.
 
Counting its participation and scoring in the final Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Woman (AIAW) meet in 1981, this year's nationals will mark the 35th in a row for the program.

AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for news, notes, and results from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
                                  
UP NEXT
This is not only the final track meet of the year, it is the final athletic event of the year for Seattle Pacific. The Falcons' distance runners will return to action in the fall, with their opening meet tentatively scheduled for the first weekend of September at Alaska Fairbanks.