THE SCHEDULE
Friday, March 11                 Seattle Pacific at NCAA Indoor Championships
                                             Robert W. Plaster Center / Pittsburg, Kansas
                                             Women's 5000 meters, 4:15 p.m. PST
                                             Live Webcast        Live results
 
Saturday, March 12             Seattle Pacific at PLU Open
                                             Pacific Lutheran Track / Tacoma, Wash.
                                             Field events, 10:00 a.m.     Track events, 11:00 a.m.
                                             No live Webcast      Live results
 
 
SEATTLE – The indoor nationals in Kansas. The outdoor opener in Tacoma.
 
That's a full track and field weekend for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
 
While Annika Esvelt will don her maroon jersey 1,900 miles across the country at the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships, her teammates will do likewise just 45 miles south of campus at the PLU Open.
 
Esvelt will compete in the 5000 meters on Friday at 4:15 p.m. Pacific time inside the Robert W. Plaster Center on the campus of Pittsburg State University.. She is the only Seattle Pacific athlete in this year's nationals.
 
Everyone else will be in action on Saturday on the oval at Pacific Lutheran University. Field events begin at 10:00 a.m. with the long jump. Track events start at 11:00 a.m., although the first race for the Falcons won't be until the 4-by-100 relay at 11:40. The last event (the 4 by 400) is scheduled for 3:30p.m.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Although the women's 5000 is the only event involving Seattle Pacific, live Webcast and live results will be available throughout the weekend from NCAA indoors. The appropriate links are at the top of this story.

On Friday, the Webcast is scheduled to begin at 12:25 p.m. Pacific time. Video at nationals does float around to different events, both on the track and in the field, so coverage of any particular event is never guaranteed. Such decisions are made on site by those producing the Webcast.
 
Saturday's PLU Open will not have a live Webcast, but will have live results. That link is available at the top of this story.
 
YUP, IT'LL FEEL LIKE MARCH
Warm clothes and rain gear probably will be necessary on Saturday at PLU. The forecast calls cloudy skies with rain and some wind. High temperatures are expected to push toward the upper 40s, but might feel a bit cooler than that. It's possible that the rain might hold off until afternoon. Regardless, it is expected to get wet at some point.
 

DORIS HERITAGE TRACK FEST IS SET
Although most of their springtime meets are out of town, the Falcons to have a "home" contest at venerable West Seattle Stadium when the host the Doris Heritage Track Festival.
 
This year's gathering will be next Saturday, March 19. Field events begin at 10:00 a.m. with the pole vault. Jumps and throws, along with races on the track, start at noon. The last event is the 4-by-400 relay, set for 3:40 p.m.
 
It is the sixth edition of the Doris Heritage event, which is named in honor of the long-time Seattle Pacific coach and internationally accomplished distance running star. The meet was known as the Club Northwest Spring Break Open through 2015, and SPU took over sponsorship in 2016.
 
The team will have a post-meet gathering of athletes and their families, as well as friends and cross country / track alums to celebrate Senior Day.
 
INDOOR INSIGHTS
--This is the 37^th year of the NCAA indoor nationals.
-- The 2020 meet was supposed to be the 36^th, but was canceled the day before it was to begin in Birmingham, Alabama, because of the rapidly growing onset of the coronavirus. Athletes were already onsite for a practice session at The CrossPlex, including SPU's Dania Holmberg (3000, 5000) and Peace Igbonagwam (long jump)  when they were told everything was off and they were to return home.
-- The 2021 meet did take place in Birmingham, but the Falcons, along with all the other Great Northwest Athletic Conference schools and many others around the country, already had canceled their season.
-- Seattle Pacific has scored team points in 17 of the previous 36 meets.
-- This is the fourth time the meet has been in the Pittsburg State facility. The Falcons were well represented in 2016 with six individual plus both a distance medley and 4-by-400 relay. Lynelle Decker had an All-American finish in the 800 (2^nd). The 4-by-400 relay of Jalen Tims, Decker, Cheryl Hong, and Jahzelle Ambus was third, and the DMR of Decker, Ambus, Chynna Phan, and Anna Patti placed fifth. Both units earned All-American recognition.
-- In 2018, All-American finishes were Scout Cai in the pentathlon (5^th), and the distance medley with Kate Lilly, Lani Taylor, Phan, and Mary Charleson (5^th).
-- In 2019, wasPeace Igbonagwam an All-American sixth in the long jump.
 




SCOUTING THE NCAA INDOOR NATIONALS
Annika Esvelt comes into the 5000 meters as the No. 8 seed among the 19 entrants with her time of 16 minutes, 31.74 seconds, which she posted on Jan. 28 at the UW Invitational.
 
On that night, the time ranked No. 2 in the country for Division II, and it remained No. 2 for two weeks. The only faster time was 16:23.46 set by Celine Ritter of Lee (Tennessee) on Dec. r.
 
Then on Feb. 11, on the same Dempsey Indoor oval, Adams State sophomore Brianna Robles raced a blistering 16:03.76, and no one has come close to touching that. She is the No. 1 seed by more than 15 seconds ahead of No. 2 seed Zoe Baker of Colorado Mines (16:19.05).
 
Esvelt is in the middle of a crowded cluster of seven runners with times ranging from the 16:23.46 of No. 3 Ritter to the 16:33.99 of Franziska Althaus from Adams State, the No. 9 seed.
 
One thing that definitely should play in Esvelt's favor as she looks to move up to a higher place is the chance to go racing. On that night at the UW Invite, she was part of a chase pack of four runners behind leader Cara Woolnaugh from Utah, who was way out in front. One by one, she left those other pack runners behind on the way to a second-place finish.
 
At the GNAC Championships on Feb. 21 in Spokane, Esvelt was clearly the class of the field. Running alone for the second half of the race, she paced herself to a time of 17:46.69 and a 15-second victory.
 
SCOUTING THE PLU OPEN
Most of the Falcons will see action in at least two events on the track, and nearly all of those are doing at least one relay in addition to individual races.
 
 

Defending GNAC 800-meter champion Ellie Rising is entered in that, along with the 1500. During the recently-completed indoor season, Rising was second at the conference championships with a season-best time of 2:14.81. Her outdoor PR is 2:11.91. Rising also is slated for the 1500. She was second in that race at GNAC outdoors last spring with her current PR of 4:37.54.
 
 

Jenna Bouyer, Aniya Green, and Peace Igbonagwam are all entered in the 400, and in both relays. Bouyer was on both winning relays at GNAC last May.
 
Indoor women's pole vault champion Charlie Hill will compete outdoors as a Falcon for the first time. She won the GNAC indoor crown with her first 12-foot clearance (12 feet, ¾ of an inch).

Making her SPU debut is senior Vanessa Aniteye, who previously starred at Alaska Anchorage. Primarily a 200- and 400-meter runner (she won the GNAC outdoor 400 in 2019), she also has done a couple of 800s, with a personal-best of 2:13.52 in 2019. She'll go that distance plus race on two relays.
 
 

The SPU men are focusing primarily on the 800, 1500, and relays. Colin Boutin, Gabe Endresen, Brennan LeBlanc, Jon Owen, and Drew Thompson are all doing the 800-1500 combo. Sprinters Evan Carpenter, Jeff Gordon, David Njeri, and Julius Shepherd are doing both relays but no individual events. Freshman Isaiah Archer also is on a 4-by-400 team, along with being in the 800.
 
The combination of Gordon, Archer, Carpenter, and Shepherd won their heat of the long relay at GNAC indoors and ultimately placed fifth overall.
 
AN EARLY START TO THE SPRING
Although Saturday's meet is the first one on the schedule for the full flock of Falcons, the pole vault crew got an early jump on the spring by competing in last weekend's Ed Boitano Invitational at the University of Puget Sound.
 
On the women's side, senior Madison Licari cleared 10 feet, 11 inches to take third place, getting over that bar on her second attempt.
 
Kainoa Lee second place in the men's competition at 14-2. That was his first 14-footer outdoors, and he got over it on his first attempt.
 
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
After spending all of last spring inside the state of Washington due to school-imposed Covid restrictions (except for the GNAC Championships at Western Oregon in Monmouth), SPU athletes will have a chance to compete farther away from home this year.
 
One familiar meet that is back on the schedule is the Bryan Clay Invitational, set for Wednesday through Friday, April 13-15, at Azusa Pacific University in California. Over the years, the Falcons have come up with some big marks there, both on the track and in the field, as the meet attracts competitors from around the country, and weather conditions are typically ideal.
 
Also included are another pair of meets that haven't been part of previous schedules. The West Coast Relays are set for April 1 in Clovis, California, hosted by Fresno State. The Oregon Relays are April 22-23 Hayward Field in Eugene. Hayward just completed a major renovation, hosted last year's U.S. Olympic Trials and will be the site of this year's NCAA Division I nationals in June and the World Championships in mid July.
 
A number of other meets in which the Falcons regularly participate are on the calendar, as well: the Peyton-Shotwell Invitational at Puget Sound on March 26, the Wildcat Invitational in Ellensburg on April 23, and the Ralph Vernacchia Invitational in Bellingham on April 30.
 
NEW VENUE FOR GNAC
After a 13-year stay at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships are on the move this year.
 
The GNACs will take place at the Central Washington Recreational Sports Complex in Ellensburg. The two-day meet is set for Friday and Saturday, May 13-14.
 
Since the formation the GNAC in the 2001-02 school year, WOU's McArthur Field has been the scheduled site of 15 GNAC meets (the 2009 meet was canceled because of swine flu, and the 2020 meet was canceled because of coronavirus). Western Washington has hosted three, and Central has hosted two. The last one in Ellensburg was in 2008 at Tomlinson Stadium.

AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for a look at the latest news, notes, and results from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.