THE SCHEDULE
Saturday, Feb. 12                                Seattle Pacific at Whitworth Invitational
                                                   The Podium / Spokane, Wash.
                                                   Field events 9:00 a.m.     Track events 9:05 a.m.
                                                   Live Webcast (pay-per-view)             Live results

 
SEATTLE – It's a wrap-up and a tune-up all in one for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
 
SPU athletes will compete in their fourth and final regular-season indoor track and field meet on Saturday when they head to Spokane for the Whitworth Invitational.
 
The meet will take place inside The Podium. Field events start at 9:00 a.m., and races on the banked 200-meter track begin at 9:05.
 
This will be the second time for the Falcons inside the brand-new facility. They were here on Dec. 11 for the Spokane Invitational, which was the inaugural event. And, they will be coming back on Feb. 21-22 for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships.
 
That being the case, Saturday's Whitworth Invite will give them a chance to give the oval and the runways one more test drive, such as it were, before the biggest meet of the winter.
 
KEEPING TRACK OF THE ACTION
A  pay-per-view live Webcast on Runner Space and free Live results will be available from the meet. The appropriate links can be found at the top of this story.
 




SCOUTING THE WHITWORTH INVITATIONAL
The Falcons came up with some big season-opening performances when they were here in December. They're looking for more of the same this week.
 
 

That starts on the triple jump runway with David Njeri. He went 49 feet, ¾ of an inch at the Spokane Invite, farther than he has ever gone before, and nearly five feet farther than anyone else in the GNAC so far. In two meets at the UW's Dempsey Indoor, he was in the 47-plus range. He's also entered in the long jump and the 60-meter dash.
 
 

Speaking of the 60, Jeff Gordon came up huge in that race on the Podium oval, clocking a school-record 7.12. His only try at Dempsey was close at 7.14. Gordon also is racing the 200, an event in which his 22.48 here in December was just two-hundredths shy of the school indoor record.
 
Julius Shepherd didn't run the inaugural meet in Spokane, so will be getting his first try on the banked oval in the 200 and 400. He ran both of those at the UW invitational two weeks ago, logging a 22.88 in the 2 and a 51.14 in the 4. Evan Carpenter is entered in those same two events.
 
Pole vaulter Kainoa Lee got his first-ever 14-foot clearance in The Podium, getting over at 14-1¼. Then two weeks ago, he topped that with a 14-3¼ at the UW Invite, tying him for No. 4 on the GNAC list.
 
 

One of the big races on the women's side is the 3000 meters, which will include Annika Esvelt. Already with the second-fastest NCAA Division II time in the 5000 meters from the UW Invite on Jan. 28, Esvelt is looking for a similar big-time performance in the 3000. Her current time of 9:51.80 ranks No. 32 on the national list, and only the top 16 are guaranteed a spot at NCAAs. The current No. 16 time is 9:43.52.
 
Esvelt will have some familiar competition to race against, as Simon Fraser's Olivia Willett also is entered. Her time is 9:50.83, which is two spots ahead of Esvelt on the national list at No. 30.
 
Freshman Nicki Yorges ran the mile for the first time on Jan. 28 at the UW Invite and clocked a very respectable 5:12.37. She'll take another try at it on Saturday. Sophomore Ellie Rising is back in the 800. Her first indoor race at that distance was at the UW Invite, and she stopped the watch in 2:18.46.
 
SPU's top sprinters will be doubling up, as Jenna Bouyer and Peace Igbonagwam are both in the 60 and the 200, and are slotted for the 4-by-400 relay. Igbonagwam also is entered in the long jump.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- In this final meet before the GNAC Championships, the Falcons will get a look at some of their conference competition. Central Washington, Saint Martin's, and Simon Fraser all have entries.
-- While David Njeri wasn't able to match his triple jump best at the Dempsey, he did set a PR in the long jump, going 22 feet, 7 inches at the UW Invite. At that same meet, he tied his PR of 7.18 in the 60-meter dash, which he initially set at Spokane in December.
-- Now that he has broken 52 seconds for the indoor 400, Julius Shepherd will take aim as a sub-51. He comes in at 51.14 from two weeks ago.

 

-- Jon Owen enters the mile this week off a PR performance of 4:25.50 at the UW Invite. That was a drop of almost five seconds.
-- Jeff Gordon's 22.48 in the 200-meter dash ranks No. 4 in the GNAC, but his 7.12 in the 60 currently is No. 9, a mere one-hundredth of a second outside the last of the top-8 points-scoring positions.
-- Jenna Bouyer already has run a 60-meter dash on The Podium straightaway, clocking 7.72, so this week will be her second time. For Peace Igbonagwam, it will be her first time, although she did race on the oval in December with a 25.12 in the 200.
-- Bouyer is one of three athletes tied for the GNAC's fastest 60-dash time. Matching her 7.72 are Simon Fraser's Marie-Eloise Éclair and Northwest Nazarene's Abbey Wood. Leclair is entered; NNU is not competing here this week.
-- The 200 looms as a potential GNAC finals preview, with Leclair (24.82), Igbonagwam (25.12), Central Washington's Makenna Hansen (25.21) and Bouyer (25.29) all on the entry list. Igbonagwam and Bouyer got their times in December; Hansen got hers here last week in the WSU Open.
-- SPU will run its first women's 4-by-400 relay of the season. The four runners will come from among a group of five on the entry list: Bouyer, Igbonagwam, McKenzie Fletcher, Aniya Green, and Ellie Rising.
 
SNEAKING A PEEK AT GNAC
With the GNAC meet less than two weeks away, an early look at favorites for the team title finds a very tight race on the women's side and a runaway on the men's.
 
Based on the top eight marks for each event and applying the appropriate team points to those marks. Western Washington's women have an ever-so-slight edge with 112 1/3. Then it's Simon Fraser with 109½, Central Washington with 106 1/3, and Western Oregon with 104 1/3. b is seeded for 93.
 
For the men, Western Washington is way out in front with 207½ points. Only one other team is seeded for triple digits, and that is Simon Fraser with 110½. SPU is seeded for 32½.
 
All of those numbers will change between now and when final entries are determined for each team. Some athletes have top-8 times in numerous events, but won't enter all of them.
 
WATCHING THE RECORD BOOK
M 60 DASH
Current: Jeff Gordon 7.12 (2022)
 
M 200
Current: Ryan Jewell 22.46 (2005)
Getting close: Jeff Gordon 22.48 (2022)
 
W 60 DASH
Current: Nyema Sims, 7.63 (2007)
Getting close: Jenna Bouyer 7.69 (2019)
                         Peace Igbonagwam 7.69 (2020)
 
W LONG JUMP
Current: Karin Grelsson 19-9½ / 6.04m (1993)
Getting close: Peace Igbonagwam 19-7½ / 5.98m (2019)
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
The "desired minimums" for the NCAA Division II nationals are 16 entries for each individual event (maximum of 20), 14 for the women's pentathlon / men's heptathlon (maximum of 16), and 12 for each of the two relays (maximum of 14). The overall limits for the meet are 270 athletes per gender.
 
Here are SPU's current provisional qualifiers, with their mark, the top-ranked mark, and the current No. 16 mark:
 
Annika Esvelt: Women's 3000: 9:51.80 (No. 32).  No. 1: 9:17.68.  No. 16: 9:43.52.
                         Women's 5000: 16:31.74 (No. 2). No. 1: 16:23.46.   No. 16: 17:13.47.

David Njeri: Men's triple jump:  49-0 ¾ / 14.95m (No.17).  No. 1: 51-11 ¼ / 15.83m.  No. 16: 49-1½ / 14.97m.

Click on this link for a complete list of national qualifiers. Click on this link to see how things stack up in the GNAC.
 
UP NEXT
The GNAC Championships will take place at The Podium in Spokane after spending 17 seasons (2004-20) at Jackson's Track in Nampa, Idaho.
  But rather than the customary mid-February Friday and Saturday, the meet is scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, Feb. 21-22. On the 21^st, multi-events begin at 9:00 a.m. (men's heptathlon) and 9:15 (women's pentathlon). Running events start at 2:30 p.m., and field events at 2:45.
 
On the 22^nd, the hep resumes at 9:30 a.m. Field events begin at 9:30 a.m., running event at 11;00, with the last race set for 2:45 p.m. and awards for 3:15.
 
Fans will be allowed to attend. Tickets can be purchased in advance by clicking on this link.
 
The GNAC meet will be the second of three significant competitions at The Podium in a span of just 10 days. The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships, consisting primarily of colleges outside the Pacific-12, are set for Feb. 18-19. Then the USATF Indoor Championships will take place Feb 26-27.