Complete women's results (PDF)
         Complete men's results (PDF)
        VIDEO: Grace Bley, Becca Houk and Julia  Stepper

SEATTLE – The shorter the race, the better Julia Stepper likes it.
 
But she had never raced anything as short as the 60-meter dash.
 
After her college debut in that event, it'd be a safe assumption that the Seattle Pacific freshman likes it.
 
Stepper went from starting line to finish line in 7.80 seconds on Saturday, the fastest time so far in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, and one of the highlights of the day for SPU at the season-opening UW Indoor Preview at Dempsey Indoor.
 
"That time was our goal in the beginning between (assistant coach) Audra (Smith) and I," said Stepper, who was 18th in the qualification heats. "But I didn't actually know if I could do it or not, because quite honestly, I'd never done a 60-meter in my entire life. I know zero about it, so I was kind of going in blind a little bit. I was really excited to see all the hard work pay off, and that I actually did as well as I did."
 
Stepper comes to SPU with some strong credentials out of Woodland High School in southwest Washington. At the state Class 2A (medium / small school) state meet last May, she won the 100-meter dash in a meet-record time of 11.89, and was second in the 200 with a 24.55.

 

"She really anticipated the gun well," said Smith, who works with the Falcon sprinters. "When she got out, it put her in good position, so she was racing. She did a really good job with that. When you get an opportunity like that, she sses it."
 
The last time a Seattle Pacific sprinter had gone that fast in the 60 was in 2016, when Becca Houk ran the same time – 7.80 – at the GNAC indoor meet.
 
Houk was back in the 60 on Saturday, and got her senior year started with a time of 8.00, good for 28th in the qualification round. She's confident that she can get even faster, but mostly liked the way this one went for her first race of the winter.
 
"I felt pretty good about. My start was pretty explosive, and the first two-thirds of it went pretty well," Houk said. "The last third I can definitely spend some more time working on."
 
Added Smith, "That was great for Becca. She has really been trying to execute, low-heel recovery, pushing and working on her transitions. She executed that very well. But racing is different than practice, so we'll just have to keep racing."
 
Joining Stepper in making an impressive Seattle Pacific debut was sophomore Grace Bley, who hails from Puyallup (40 miles south of Seattle) and competed last year for the University of Portland. On Saturday, Bley surged from behind in the final 10 meters to win her heat in 59.89 seconds (20th out of 46), then clocked the team's best time of the day in the 200 at 26.11 (23rd out of 58).
 
"I'm just super-excited to have a great start in the 400. I wasn't sure how it was going to go," Bley said. "I'm glad I ran my own race and I was able to catch that girl at the end."
 
That impressed Smith.
 
"I'm just so proud of her competing and not giving up on herself and chasing down people at the end," Smith said. "That was pretty cool."
 
AND THAT'S NOT ALL
-- Stepper and Houk also ran the 200, with Houk 29th in 26.38, and Stepper 34th in 26.61.
-- Bley wasn't the only Falcon to win a preliminary heat. Freshman Renick Meyer took her heat of the 60-meter hurdles in 8.92 seconds, and also won her flight of the long jump at 17 feet, 10 ¾ inches. The latter was Seattle Pacific's best performance of the day in that event, and placed 11th overall.
 

-- Sophomore Alyssa Foote shattered her personal-best in the women's 3,000 meters, clocking 10:05.31. Her previous best was 10:14.36 in last year's UW Invitational. At the 2017 Indoor Preview, Foote ran 10:21.40 in her college indoor track debut.
-- Senior Peyton Harris also had a qualifying-round win, taking his heat of the men's 60 hurdles in 8.58 seconds.
-- Freshman Elius Graff clocked 4:23.61 in the men's mile. Not only was that faster than any Falcon posted last year, it was the fastest SPU mile mark since Seth Pierson went 4:12.76 in 2014.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons have next week off from competition. They return to action on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 26 and 27, in the UW Invitational at Dempsey Indoor. The meet will include a women's pentathlon on the 26th.  That starts at 1:30 p.m. Other competition begins at 4:30 p.m. on the first day and at 9:00 a.m. on the second day.


NCAA WOMEN'S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD
UW Indoor Preview
Saturday, Jan. 13, 2018
Dempsey Indoor / Seattle, Wash.
 
Team scores – Not kept.
 
60-meter dash – 1, Brittney Reese (USOC) 7.31. SPU – Julia Stepper 7.80 (18th in qualification heats; did not advance to preliminaries or finals); 24, Becca Houk 8.00 (28th in qualification heats; did not advance to preliminaries or finals).
200 – 1, Jaide Stepter (Unattached) 23.60. SPU – 23, Grace Bley 26.11; 29, Becca Houk 26.38; 34, Julia Stepper 26.61; 51, Kellie May 28.00.
400 – 1, Jaide Stepter (Unattached) 52.50. SPU – 20, Grace Bley 59.89; 46, Megan Hoback 1:07.17.
600 – 1, Olivia Baker (Stanford) 1:28.72. No SPU.
800 – 1, Kayla Edwdards (Adidas) 2:05.34. SPU – 5, Chynna Phan 2:15.89; 12, Kate Lilly 2:25.70.
1000 – 1, Stephanie Brown (Unattached) 2:44.78. No SPU.
Mile – 1, Jenna Westaway (Brooks) 4:36.17. SPU – 16, Kate Lilly 5:09.51; 29, Hailey Kettel 5:19.66; 31, Elizabeth Thompson 5:24.05.
3000 – 1, Shalane Flanagan (Nike) 8:55.11. SPU – 27, Alyssa Foote 10:05.31; 51, Katherine Walter 10:32.73
60 hurdles – 1, Erica Bougard (USOC) 8.11. SPU – Renick Meyer 8.11 (4thin qualification heats; did not run preliminaries or finals); Kellie May 9.58 (25th in qualification heats; did not advance to preliminaries or finals).
4x400 relay – 1, Stanford 3:41.54. SPU – 13, Seattle Pacific 4:04.52.
4x800 relay – 1, Gonzaga 10:05.03. No SPU.
High jump – 1, Elizabeth Patterson (Unattached) 6-0 ¾ / 1.85m. SPU – T5, Geneva Lehnert 5-3 / 1.60m; T11, Brooke Benner 5-1 / 1.55m; T28, Megan Hoback 4-7 / 1.40m; 30, Renick Meyer 4-7 / 1.40m (judge's decision).
Pole vault – 1, Diamond Planell Curz (Puerto Rico) 13-9 ¾ / 4.21m (judge's decision). SPU – Emily Northey, no height.
Long jump – 1, Baileh Simms (Unattached) 20-1 / 6.12m. SPU – 11, RenickMeyer 17-10 ¾ / 5.45m; 21, Geneva Lehnert (SPU) 16-9 ¼ / 5.11m; 27, Kellie May (SPU) 16-3 / 4.95m; 34, Brooke Benner 15-9 / 4.80m; 35, Julia Stepper 15-7 ½ / 4.76m.
Triple jump – 1, Marissa Kwiatkowski (Stanford) 41-2 ¼ / 12.55m. SPU – 12, Brooke Benner 36-8 ¼ / 11.18m; 14, Kellie May 36-3 ½ / 11.06m.
Shot put – 1, McKenzie Warren (Iron Wood TC) 57-7 / 17.55m. No SPU.
Weight throw – 1, Valerie Allman (Stanford) 64-1 / 19.53m (meet record, breaks old record of 62-10 ¾ / 19.17m set by Caressa Sims of Portland State in 2008). No SPU.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD
UW Indoor Preview
Saturday, Jan. 13, 2018
Dempsey Indoor / Seattle, Wash.
 
Team scores – Not kept.
 
60-meter dash – 1, Joe Morris (Bridgetown) 6.69. SPU – Christian Wong 7.47 (34h in qualification heats; did not run in preliminaries or finals); Shayne Carpenter 7.51 (36th in qualification heats; did not run in preliminaries or finals).
200 – 1, Marcus Chambers (Nike) 21.26. No SPU.
400 – 1, Julian Body (Stanford) 48.21. SPU – 25, Miles Flett 54.67; 29, Chris Bench 58.07.
600 – 1, Carmeron Stone (Oregon) 1:18.35. No SPU.
800 – 1, Clayton Murphy (Nike Oregon) 1:51.44. SPU – 19, Ben Hansen 2:04.56.
1000 – 1, Drew Windle (Brooke Beast) 2:20.95. SPU – 27, Brysten James 2:38.82.
Mile – 1, Yomif Kejelcha (Nike Oregon) 4:02.70. SPU – 40, Elius Graff 4:23.61; 53, Shad Galloway 4:43.57.
3000 – 1, Craig Engels (Nike Oregon) 7:55.66. No SPU.
60 hurdles – 1, Aries Merritt (Nike) 7.65. SPU – Peyton Harris 8.58 (4th in qualification heats), then 8.66 (12th in preliminaries did not advance to finals); Shayne Carpenter 9.11 (14th in qualification heats; did not advance to preliminaries or finals).
4x400 relay – 1, Stanford 3:12.46. SPU – 11, Seattle Pacific (Miles Flett, Peyton Harris, Chris Bench, Brysten James) 3:39.51.
4x800 relay – 1, Victoria 8:03.05. No SPU.
High jump – 1, Ben Milligan (Oregon) 7-0 ½ / 2.15m. (judge's decision). No SPU.
Pole vault – 1, Chase Smith (Washington) 17-7 / 5.36m. SPU – Davis Flintoff 12-8 / 3.86m; Austin Matzelle, no height.
Long jump – 1, Devon Williams (USOC) 24-0 ¼ / 7.32m. No SPU.
Triple jump – 1, Denzel Brown (Trinity Western) 47-3 ¾ / 14.42m. No SPU.
Shot put – 1, Darrell Hill (USOC) 65-2 ¼ / 19.87m. No SPU.
Weight throw – 1, Michael Painter (Stanford) 58-10 ¼ / 17.94m. No SPU.