BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Jenna Bouyer was going short. Elius Graff was going long.
 
No matter the distance, both of them were going fast.
 
Seattle Pacific's Bouyer chopped 1½ seconds off her personal-best time in the 400 meters, and Graff broke the four-minute mark in the 1500 meters for the first time in his career on Saturday afternoon at the Western Washington Invitational track and field meet.
 
Bouyer, a sophomore, won the women's 400 in 57.89 seconds. That was well below her previous best of 59.36, set on March 7, 2020 at the Ed Boitano Invitational – the only meet of last season before everything was shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic.
 
As of Saturday evening, Bouyer's time ranks No. 3 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, and is one of three in the 57-second range. Karlie Hurley of Western Washington leads at 57.62, and Lauren Wuertz of Northwest Nazarene is second at 57.85. Right on their heals is SPU senior Grace Bley with the 58.04 that gave her second place behind Bouyer on Saturday inside Civic Stadium.
 
Falcons senior Graff stopped the watch in the men's 1500 meters in 3 minutes, 59.27 seconds. That gave him seventh place overall and was well below his previous best of 4:03.74, set as a freshman in 2018 at the PLU Open. It also was nearly 10 seconds faster than the 4:09.10 he ran on March 6 at this year's PLU Open.
 
Bouyer was one of three individual winners and four overall for SPU. Along with the 400, she led off the victorious 4-by-100 relay, teaming with Renick Meyer, Julia Stepper, and Bley for a time of 47.05 seconds. That's fastest in the GNAC by more than two seconds and ranks No. 13 in NCAA Division II. The provisional qualifying for the national meet is 46.73.
 
Meyer won the 100-meter hurdles for the second time this spring, clocking 14.86 seconds.

Senior Scout Cai made it 4-for-4 in the women's pole vault. She cleared 12-0½. That was her second 12-footer of the year. Her season-best is 12-11½ at the PLU Open.
 
The Falcons went 2-3-4 in the women's 200-meter dash with Bley (24.86), Bouyer (25.55) and Stepper (25.78). Bley has been sub-25 in all four meets.
 
UP NEXT
SPU will be inside West Seattle Stadium on Friday for a dual meet against Seattle University. Field events begin at 2:00 p.m., and the first race on the track is at 3:00 p.m. The final event is set for 5:05 p.m.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD
Western Washington Invitational
Saturday, April 3, 2021
Civic Stadium / Bellingham, Wash.
 
Team scores – Not kept.
 
SPU EVENTS ONLY
100 – 1, Bailey Forsyth (PLU) 12.01. SPU – 2, Julia Stepper 12.25; 4, Aniya Green 12.93.
200 – 1, Bailey Forsyth (PLU) 24.80. SPU – 2, Grace Bley 24.86; 3, Jenna Bouyer 25.55; 4, Julia Stepper 25.78.
400 – 1, Jenna Bouyer (SPU) 57.89. Other SPU – 2, Grace Bley 58.04.
800 – 1, Tylantiss Atlas (UAA) 2:19.71. No SPU.
100 hurdles – 1, Renick Meyer (SPU) 14.86. Other SPU – 10, Abby Kauffman 20.13.
4x100 relay – 1, Seattle Pacific (Jenna Bouyer, Renick Meyer, Julia Stepper, Grace Bley) 47.05. No other SPU.
4x400 relay – 1, Alaska Anchorage 4:07.82. No SPU.
High jump – 1, Jessica Neal (WWU) 5-5 ¼ / 1.66m. SPU – 4, Renick Meyer 4-9 ½ / 1.46m.
Pole vault – 1, Scout Cai (SPU) 12-0½ / 3.67m. Other SPU – 5, Lizzy Daugherty 11-0 ¾ / 3.37m; 10, Emily Northey 9-7 / 2.92m.
Long jump – 1, Karlie Hurley (WWU) 18-6 ½ / 5.65m. SPU – 2, Renick Meyer 18-4½ / 5.60m; 9, Abby Kauffman 15-1 ¼ / 4.60m.
Shot put – 1, Katie Potts (WWU) 41-8 ½ / 12.71m. SPU – 3, Scout Cai 36-7 / 11.15m; 5, Kellie May 34-4 ¼ / 10.47m.
Javelin – 1, Hannah Nienaber (WWU) 154-5 / 47.08m. SPU – 6, Abby Kauffman 110-6 / 33.68m; 9, Kellie May 88-8 / 27.02m.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S TRACK & FIELD
Western Washington Invitational
Saturday, April 3, 2021
Civic Stadium / Bellingham, Wash.
 
Team scores – Not kept.
 
SPU EVENTS ONLY
200 – 1, Enrique Campbell (UAA) 22.29. SPU – 4, Julius Shepherd 23.10; 5, Evan Carpenter 23.48.
400 – 1, Enrique Campbell (UAA) 50.01. SPU – 5, Julius Shepherd 51.78; 6, Evan Carpenter 52.93.
1500 – 1, Calahan Warren (WWU) 3:44.82. SPU – 7, Elius Graff 3:59.27.
4x400 relay – 1, Western Washington 3:25.88. No SPU.
Pole vault – 1, Kacey Provo (WWU) 14-7 ½ / 4.46m. SPU – 4, Kainoa Lee 13-1 ¾ / 4.01m; Brad Bowman no height.