PARKLAND, Wash. – They call 'em rust-busters – that first track and field of the year when the object isn't so much to win or post an eye-popping mark, but simply to get the feel of competing again.
 
For most of the Seattle Pacific Falcons, Saturday's outdoor season-opening trip to the PLU Open was an opportunity to bust a year's worth of rust. Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, it was exactly 52 weeks ago when they last ran, jumped, or threw, on March 7, 2020.
 
They busted it, all right – a few of them in a "wow" kind of way.
 
Scout Cai posted a personal-best and an NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the pole vault, Grace Bley broke the 25-second mark in the 200-meter dash, freshman Jeff Gordon was the first Falcon in the 22s for the men's 200 since 2017, and SPU won 10 events overall on a sometime-sunny, sometimes breezy day at the Pacific Lutheran track.
 
Cai and Bley are two of the three Seattle Pacific athletes who are taking advantage of an NCAA ruling that is allowing them to compete this season. When the 2020 campaign was wiped out by covid, all spring sports athletes were able to retain that year of eligibility.
 
For those two (and also for distance runner Kate Lilly, who did not race on Saturday), that allowed them to preserve their senior season and come back in 2021.
 
 

They made the most of their first opportunity. Cai cleared 12 feet, 11½ inches, exceeding her previous best mark of 12-10 with which she won the 2019 Great Northwest Athletic Conference title. Just two weeks after that, she went on to place an All-American eighth at the NCAA Division II nationals.
 
Bley burned through her 200-meter race in 24.81 seconds. She is the two-time defending champion in the GNAC 200, and has gone as fast as 24.48, that on April 19, 2019 in warmer, sunnier conditions at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California. On Saturday, Bley was at the front end of a 1-2-3 sweep, as junior Jenna Bouyer (25.31) and senior Julia Stepper (25.46) were within one second of Bley.
 
 

Gordon hasn't raced since his 2019 senior season at Brooke Point High School in Virginia. He had been in the 22s there twice, with a personal-best of 22.56 in the 2019 Virginia state meet. He was considerably faster on Saturday, winning in 22.12. The most recent SPU man to go that fast was David Ferguson with a 21.95 in 2013 in the Ken Shannon Invitational at Husky Track.
 


AND THAT'S NOT ALL
 

-- While Cai, Bley, and Gordon came through with one victory apiece, senior Dania Holmberg racked up two. First, she led a 1-2-3-4 Falcon finish in the 1500, coming through the wire in 4 minutes, 41.15 seconds. Following her across the line were senior Elizabeth Thompson (4:51.88), freshman Ellie Rising (4:55.28) and sophomore Kelsey Washenberger (4:56.34).
--Holmberg then won the 800 in 2:18.99, with Rising second (2:20.04).
--Senior Renick Meyer took the 100-meter hurdles (14.80), and junior Peace Igbonagwam hurdled for the fist time in college, winning the 400s in 1:05.21.
-- Bley, Bouyer, Stepper, and Igbonagwam also notched a victory in the 4-by-400 relay (4:06.15).
 

--Junior Brayden Schultz and freshman Carter McGinnis joined Gordon in the winner's circle on the men's side.
--Schultz posted pair of PRs. He was second in the 1500 meters in 4:03.36, and led for a good portion of that race until PLU's Ryan Stracke came through with a closing kick down the homestretch to win in 4:00.36. Schultz came back later to win the 800 in 1:58.47 – his first sub two-minute time in that race. It was his first individual college victory. His previous bests of 4:05.79 and 2:03.10 both were set the Ed Boitano / Puget Sound Invitational last March 7 – the first, last, and only meet before the pandemic shut down the season.
-- McGinnis made his Falcons debut by getting over 14 feet, 1¼ inches in the pole vault. He has a string of four straight 14-0 clearances last spring at Wenatchee High School, the fourth of which won the Columbia Basin Big Nine District championship..
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons are off next weekend, then host the Doris Heritage Track Festival on Saturday, March 20, at West Seattle Stadium.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD
PLU Open
Saturday, March 6, 2021
Pacific Lutheran Track / Parkland, Wash.
 
Team scores – Not kept.
 
SPU EVENTS ONLY
200 – 1, Grace Bley (SPU) 24.81. Other SPU – 2, Jenna Bouyer 25.31; 3, Julia Stepper 25.46; 5, Charisma Smith 27.19; 6, Abby Kauffman 27.61; 7, Kellie May 28.80.
800 – 1, Dania Holmberg 2:18.99. Other SPU – 2, Ellie Rising 2:20.04; 4, Kelsey Washenberger 2:23.12; 5, Elizabeth Thompson 2:23.66; 7, Libby Michael 2:28.18; 9, Belle Brandenfels 2:35.52.
1500 – 1, Dania Holmberg 4:41.15. Other SPU – 2, Elizabeth Thompson 4:51.88; 3, Ellie Rising 4:55.28; 4, Kelsey Washenberger 4:56.34; 6, Libby Michael 4:59.37; 8, Belle Brandenfels 5:05.51.
100 hurdles – 1, Renick Meyer 14.80. Other SPU – 4, Kellie May 16.77.
400 hurdles – 1, Peace Igbonagwam 1:05.21. No other SPU.
4x400 relay – 1, Seattle Pacific (Grace Bley, Jenna Bouyer, Julia Stepper, Peace Igbonagwam) 4:06.15. Other SPU – 2, Seattle Pacific (Charisma Smith, Scout Cai, Kellie May, Abby Kauffman) 4:28.51.
Pole vault – 1, Scout Cai 12-11 ½ / 3.95m. Other SPU – Lizzy Daugherty no height, Emily Northey no height.
Javelin – 1, Ava Nelson (PLU) 143-3 ½ / 43.67m. SPU – 3, Renick Meyer 101-0 / 30.78m; 4, Abby Kauffman 95-9 ½ / 29.21m; 6, Kellie May 87-9 ½ / 26.77m.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S TRACK & FIELD
PLU Open
Saturday, March 6, 2021
Pacific Lutheran Track / Parkland, Wash.
 
Team scores – Not kept.
 
SPU EVENTS ONLY
200 – 1, Jeff Gordon (SPU) 22.12. Other SPU – 5, Michael Gabelein 23.71.
800 – 1, Brayden Schultz 1:58.47. Other SPU – 5, Jared Putney 2:01.52; 7, Elius Graff 2:02.91; 9, Jon Owen 2:04.36; 11, J.R. Hentges 2:05.97; 12, Austin Weese 2:07.01; 13, Colin Boutin 2:07.89; 16, Evan Carpenter 2:11.95.
1500 – 1, Ryan Stracke (PLU) 4:00.36. SPU – 2, Brayden Schultz 4:03.36; 3, Jared Putney 4:06.31; 4, Elius Graff 4:09.10; 7, Austin Weese 4:12.84; 10, Jon Owen 4:15.42; 11, Colin Boutin 4:15.45; 15, J.R. Hentges 4:18.45.
4x400 relay – 1, Pacific Lutheran 3:38.40. SPU -- 2, Seattle Pacific (Evan Carpenter, Kainoa Lee, Michael Gabelein, Jeff Gordon) 3:40.04.
Pole vault – 1, Carter McGinnis 14-1¼ / 4.30m. Other SPU – 4, Kainoa Lee 13-1 ½ / 4.00m; 6, Brad Bowman 12-1 ½ / 3.70m.