Complete Friday finals / preliminary results (PDF)
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MONMOUTH, Ore. – Michaella Kahns said she just wanted to make sure she scored points for the team.
 
If they turned out to be first place points, well …
 
… so much the better.
 
Kahns got those points with personal-best clearance of 11 feet, 9 ¾ inches in the pole vault, and Seattle Pacific teammates Kyra Brannan in the long jump and Anna Patti in the 10,000 meters added first-place points of their  own during the first day of competition at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
 
Thanks in part to the top-of-the-heap finishes from Kahns, Brannan, and Patti at McArthur Field on the Western Oregon University campus, the Falcons kept themselves very much in the picture for the women's team championship. In what essentially is a two-way battle. SPU finished Day 1 with 57 points while pre-meet favorite and two-time defending champion Alaska Anchorage has 49 through seven of the 21 events.
 
The other 14 finals are set for Saturday, with field events starting at 9:30 a.m. and running at 11.
 
"We asked them to seize the moment, and to a person, they came out here and laid it on the line and gave it what they had," head coach Karl Lerum said. "This team is about momentum, and we're just hoping we can keep this rolling through tomorrow."





Kahns (Burlington, Wash. / Burlington-Edison HS) was just the No.  4 seed coming into the pole vault off a career-best clearance of 11-1 on April 25 at the Ralph Vernacchia Invitational in Bellingham. On Friday, she got over 11-5 ¾ on her third and final attempt, leaving her tied with two others. She then cleared 11-9 ¾ on her second attempt while the other two competitors elected to pass at that height.
 
None of the three got over at 12-1 ½, leaving Kahns the clear winner.
 
"The first thing I thought was fight for the team, and I was just happy about that. The PR was icing on the cake," Kahns said. "I wasn't thinking, 'Get PRs,' but it just kept happening. It was an area where I needed to keep calm and just make it happen."
 
A year ago at this meet, Kahns tied for third at 10-0 ½ on a day when the pole vault was temporarily postponed because of a driving rainstorm. No such problems on Friday under clear skies and temperatures in the 70s.
 
"It was sunny, it was warm, and everything just pulled together," she said.





As expected, the long jump came down to a battle between Brannan (Kennewick, Wash. / Kamiakin HS) and Karolin Anders of Alaska Anchorage. Brannan's eventual winning leap of 18-4 ½ came on her try of the preliminary round. Anders, who won the heptathlon last week, nearly caught up on her last attempt of finals, but landed at 18-3 ¾.
 
That was the same margin of difference as at the GNAC indoor meet in February, when Anders prevailed, 18-6 ½ to 18-5 ¾.
 
"I was just feeling it today," Brannan said. "I felt a little slower on that run (for the 18-4 ½ / 5.60 meters), but my pop felt really good, and that's what made it the 5.60 at the end. It feels really good because Karolin Anders and I are always neck and neck. At indoors she beat me by point-02 meters, and outdoors, I was able to beat her by .02."
 
That turned out to be highly productive event for the Falcons. Junior Maliea Luquin had a PR of 18-2 ¾ for third place, and senior Tasia Baldwin went a season-best 17-10 ½ for fifth place.

Patti came into the 10,000 as the third seed. In fact, her entry time of 35:46.51 was 45 seconds behind top-seeded Amy Johnston of Anchorage and was 18 seconds in back of UAA's Caroline Kurgat.
 
But those three, plus Central Washington's Megan Rogers went out together and quickly left everyone else well behind them, albeit at a very slow pace. They stayed virtually stride-for-stride for 23 of the 25 laps.
 
With 800 to go, Patti made her move. She went to the front, gradually stretched it out, and was in complete control by the bell lap. She came across in 37:00.02. That was 13 seconds in front of Johnston and 15 ahead of Kurgat.





"I definitely had the win on my mind going in," Patti said. "I didn't have as good a seed time as the two Alaskans because I had a rough race at Mt. SAC (in April), but I knew I was better than predicted."
 
As for her decision to start her kick with two laps left, "Part of me was thinking, 'Let's just get this done.' We had been out there a long time, it was hot, and I felt ready."
 
Freshman Jessica Rawlins picked off two runners in front her for a third-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Rawlins posted a time of 10:55.10, moving her up one notch from her fourth-seeded position.
 
COMING UP BIG IN PRELIMS
Freshman Becca Houk finally broke the barrier on Friday. Houk won her heat of the 100-meter dash preliminaries in 11.98 seconds, her first time below 12 as a collegian. That beat her previous college best of 12.05 and made her the second seed for the finals behind Alaska Anchorage's Jamie Ashcroft, who blistered her prelim heat in 11.81.
 
Seniors Tasia Baldwin (No. 4 at 12.19) and Kelsey Chase (No. 5 at 12.30) also made finals.
 
The Falcons will have four in the 200 meter finals. Again, Ashcroft is the one to beat at 24.51. But junior Jahzelle Ambus (PR 24.74), Houk (PR 24.77), Baldwin (25.23) and Brannan (PR 25.47) are Nos. 2-3-4-5.

Ambus (Portland, Ore.) also is the top seed in the 400 finals.
 
SPU also had three in the 400 hurdles finals, with Luqin at No. 3, junior Jalen Tims at No. 4, and sophomore Maddi Hommes at No. 8. Luquin also retained her No. 5 seed for the 100 hurdles finals.


NCAA WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD
GNAC Championships
Friday, May 8, 2015
McArthur Field / Monmouth,Ore.
                     
Team scores (through 7 of 21 events; other 14 finals on Saturday) – 1, Seattle Pacific 57; 2, Alaska Anchorage 49; 3, Central Washington 41; 4, Western Washington 40; 5, Northwest Nazarene 34; 6, Saint Martin's 16; 7, Western Oregon 15; 8, (tie) Montana State Billings and Simon Fraser 5.
 
FRIDAY FINALS
10,000 – 1, Anna Patti (SPU) 37:00.02. Other SPU – 7, Sarah Macdonald 39:25.80; 11, Mary Charleson 43:56.41.
3000 steeplechase – 1, Katelyn Steen (WWU) 10:14.16. SPU – 3, Jessica Rawlins 10:55.10.
Pole vault – 1, Michaella Kahns 11-9 ¾ / 3.60m. No other SPU.
Long jump – 1, Kyra Brannan 18-4 ½ / 5.60m. Other SPU – 3, Maliea Luquin 18-3 / 5.56m; 5, Tasia Baldwin 17-10 ¾ / 5.45m.
Shot put – 1, Emmi Collier (WOU) 45-7 / 13.89m. SPU – 12, Sammi Markham 38-11 ½ / 11.87m.
Discus – 1, Megan Mortensen (WWU) 142-10 ¾ / 43.55m. SPU – 11, Sammi Markham (SPU) 120-7 ½ / 36.76m.
 
FRIDAY PRELIMINARIES
100 – 1, Jamie Ashcroft 11.81. SPU finals qualifiers – 2, Becca Houk 11.98; 4, Tasia Baldwin 12.19; 5, Kelsey Chase 12.30. Other SPU – 9, Kyra Brannan 12.46.
200 – 1, Jamie Ashcroft 24.51. SPU finals qualifiers – 2, Jahzelle Ambus 24.74; 3, Becca Houk 24.77; 4, Baldwin 25.23; 5, Kyra Brannan 25.47. Other SPU – 14, Cheryl  Hong 26.56.
400 – 1, Jahzelle Ambus (SPU) 57.33. Other SPU finals qualifier – 7, Cheryl Hong 58.89. Other SPU – 13, Jasmine Johnson 1:04.32.
100 hurdles – 1, Lexi Tubbs (NNU) 14.23. SPU finals qualifiers – 5, Maliea Luquin 14.53. No other SPU competitors.
400 hurdles – 1, Haleigh Lloyd (UAA) 1:00.70. SPU finals qualifiers – 4, Maliea Luquin 1:04.63; 5, Jalen Tims 1:04.80; 8, Maddi Hommes 1:05.74.