CLOVIS, Calif. – As she stood on the track waiting to step into her starting blocks for the 400-meter dash, Vanessa Aniteye said she couldn't help but wonder just a little bit
 
"I felt like I was testing the waters, I felt like a newbie again – do I know how to do this?'" the Seattle Pacific senior sprinter said. "But once the gun went off, it was like muscle memory."
 
After making a name for herself in the 400 while starring for three years at Alaska Anchorage, she definitely knew how to do it.
 
 

Aniteye set a school record in the women's 400-meter dash, and SPU athletes recorded six NCAA provisional qualifying times, along with 12 personal bests in the West Coast Relays on Friday at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
 
"We had a beautiful day (clear skies, temperatures comfortably in the 70s), a perfect level of competition, and they just put out the best efforts that they had all day today," head coach Karl Lerum said. "I knew they were looking pretty good when they had the kind of outing that they had last week at UPS. This group is really running well, they're healthy, and I think they have just the right amount of hungry in them, too."
 
Aniteye certainly ate up her opportunities on the oval. Of those six NCAA provisional marks, she her fleet feet in three of them.
 
The biggest of those was the 400. Aniteye came in with a personal best time of 54.19, with which she won the Great Northwest Athletic Conference title for the Seawolves in 2019. That already was faster than the SPU school standard of 54.68 set by Jahzelle Ambus on April 30, 2016 in the Ken Shannon Invitational at the University of Washington.
 
But the record still belonged to Ambus until Aniteye could beat it while wearing a maroon Seattle Pacific uniform.

She did that on Friday, clocking 54.60. That was fifth overall and put her onto the NCAA provisional qualifying list. Along with it being her first 400 as a Falcon, it was her first since the 2019 NCAAs.
 
"I've really been waiting a long time for this day," Aniteye said. "I will say I was a little nervous because I didn't know where I was at (competitively). "When I saw the board, I was surprised with the time. I ran a little conservative because I was just testing the waters to see where I was. But the last 100, I was really pushing it, I was running for a time. It was more than the goal I had set for the day."
 
 

Added Lerum, "It's a big deal to break a women's school record at SPU. I talked to Vanessa about it, and we take that one pretty seriously. (The previous record of 54.98 had stood for 18 years before Ambus broke it in '16.) Jahzelle was a wonderful athlete, and for Vanessa to break her school record was really special."
 
The combination of Aniteye, Peace Igbonagwam, Jenna Bouyer, and Aniya Green teamed up to get Seattle Pacific onto the NCAA provisional list in both relays.
 
The 4-by-100 clocked 46.70 seconds, which was three-tenths faster than the 47.00 that they posted at last Saturday's Peyton-Shotwell Invitational in Tacoma. The 4-by-400 went a sizzling 3:45.91, with all four breaking 60 seconds, and Aniteye bringing it home on the anchor leg in 54 seconds flat.
 
That was SPU's first sub-3:50 in the 4-by-400 since the 2018 GNAC Championships (Scout Cai, Becca Houk, Chynna Phan, and Lani Taylor in 3:45.88).
 
 

"It was good to see those women figure out what we knew and how much they had in the tank," said SPU assistant coach Kate Carlson, who works with the sprinters. "All those 400 runners put it together really nicely in the 4-by-4. They did exactly what we asked them to do and what we told them they could do. It was fun to see them buy into what the plan is and know that they could do It.
 
"They just had an amazing day."
 
The Falcon men followed up with a speedy mark of their own. Evan Carpenter, David Njeri, Julius Shepherd, and Isaiah Archer 3:22.08. A Seattle Pacific unit hadn't gone that fast since the 2015 GNAC meet when Chris Moreton, Mario Lopez, RJ Straker, and David Ferguson went 3:22.51.
 
"You could tell they just decided to run fast," Carlson said. "I could tell when they walked out onto the field, they were enjoying watching the women run, but they were focused and they meant business. They went out and took advantage of the opportunity to race."
 
MOVIN' ON UP
Back in December at the Spokane Invitational indoor season opener, David Njeri went 49 feet, ¾ of an inch in the triple jump – farther than he'd every gone, indoors or out. But while he went on to win the GNAC crown in that event, he didn't come close to that mark again the rest of the winter.
 
 

On Friday, he not only came close, he left it way behind – and not just once, but twice. The big one came on his third and last attempt in the finals, when he flew 49-9¾ to take second place.
 
He also had a 49-footer on his first try in the finals, going 49-6¼.
 
"Honestly, it just felt natural," said Njeri, who moved up one spot to No. 2 on SPU's all-time list and now is just three inches away from the record of 50-0 ½ set by the late Steve Gough back in 1970. "I've been working on finishing my first, second, and third phases, and I just kind of got that together and was feeding off the competition. I just ran down the runway and jumped. It didn't feel any different."
 
He battled through a heel injury through the latter portion of the indoor season, but that is now in the past.
 
"I was kind of concerned after I hurt my heel – I wasn't popping any big ones," said Njeri, who also went a personal-best 22-9 in the long jump on Friday. "I was kind of excited to get outdoors and see what I could do."
 
ANOTHER FAST FIRST TIME
When Annika Esvelt ran her first-ever 5000 meters on a track at the UW Invitational indoor meet on Jan. 28, she came up with an attention-grabbing performance of 16 minutes, 31.74 seconds – way faster than she had in mind.
 
 

Now, she has done her first 5K on an outdoor track, and … well, you can figure the rest.
 
Esvelt finished her 12½ laps in 16 minutes, 14.31 seconds, taking second place behind Sarah Carter of Colorado State (16:08.95).
 
That puts her No. 2 on Seattle Pacific's all-time list, trailing only Jessica Pixler's 15:44.07 (2010). It's also No. 6 among the GNAC top 10 and, as of Friday evening, ranks No. 2 in NCAA D2, with only Fatima Alanis of Queens (N.C.) in front of her at 16:04.83.
 
AND THAT'S NOT ALL
 

-- Defending GNAC 800 meter Ellie Rising had yet to find the same kind of speed this spring that had kept her at the front of the pack last spring. She found it on Friday, clocking a personal-best time of 2 minutes, 11.83 seconds to place seventh overall and make the NCAA provisional list. Rising had been in the 2:17 range in two previous tries at the 800 through the first three weeks of the season.
-- Libby Michael came up with a pair of distance personal-bests: 2:18.06 in the 800 and 4:46.13 in the 1500. That was her third consecutive 1500 PB and her second this year in the 800.
-- Speaking of three straight 1500 PB, Jon Owen now has done the same thing. His latest came on Friday with a 4:03.65. Coming into the season, his best was 4:12.70. He has gone 4:10.53, 4:07.22, and now 4:03.
-- Vanessa Aniteye wasn't the only 400-meter runner coming through for the Falcons. Peace Igbonagwam (56.72), Aniya Green (59.70) both PB'd in the women's race; Evan Carpenter (50.27) did so in the men's. Green's time was her first below 1:00 (previous best 1:01.70). Carpenter's time was fast enough to win his heat.
-- Isaiah Archer not only had a career best in the men's 800, he won his heat with it, stopping the watch in 1:54.42.
-- Kainoa Lee added five inches to his PB in the men's pole vault, getting over at 14-7. He went 14-2 in the Ed Boitano Invitational on March 5.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons make their final trip to Tacoma next Saturday for the PLU Invitational. A meet schedule has not yet been released by Pacific Lutheran.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD
West Coast Relays
Friday, April 1, 2022
Veterans Memorial Stadium / Clovis, Calif.
 
SPU EVENTS ONLY
100 – 1, Catherine Leger (UCLA) 11.49.  SPU – 10, Jenna Bouyer 12.10.
200 – 1, Catherine Leger (UCLA) 23.32.  SPU – 16, Jenna Bouyer 24.69.
400 – 1, Danae Manibog (Fresno Pacific) 53.91.  SPU – 5, Vanessa Aniteye 54.60 (school record, breaks old record of 54.68 set by Jahzelle Ambus on April 30, 2016); 12, Peace Igbonagwam 56.72; 21, Aniya Green 59.70.
800 – 1, Rose Pittman (UCLA) 2:06.22.  SPU – 9, Ellie Rising 2:11.83#; 18, Libby Michael 2:18.06; 20, Kelsey Washenberger 2:20.97.
1500 – 1, Anneken Viljoen (Cal Baptist) 4:24.58.  SPU – 10, Kelsey Washenberger 4:46.02; 12, Libby Michael 4:46.13.
5000 (Invitational) – 1, Sarah Carter (Colo. St.) 16:08.95.  SPU – 2, Annika Esvelt 16:14.31#. 
4x100 relay – 1, San Jose State 45.60.  SPU – 2, Seattle Pacific (Peace Igbonagwam, Vanessa Aniteye, Aniya Green, Jenna Bouyer) 46.70#.
4x400 relay – 1, UCLA 3:37.38.  SPU – 4, Seattle Pacific (Peace Igbonagwam, Jenna Bouyer, Aniya Green, Vanessa Aniteye) 3:45.91#.
400 hurdles – 1, Skyler Blair (Utah) 59.21.  SPU – 17, McKenzie Fletcher 1:07.34.
Pole vault – 1, Miranda Miller (Cal State Bakersfield) 13-7¼  4.15m.  SPU – 12, Charlie Hill 11-5¾ / 3.50m; 13, Madison Licari 11-5¾ / 3.50m; 15, Lizzy Daugherty 10-6 / 3.20m.
Long jump – 1, Hannah Rusnak (UW) 19-6¾  5.96m.  SPU – 12, Peace Igbonagwam 17-6 / 5.33m.
 
#  NCAA provisional qualifying
 
 
NCAA MEN'S TRACK & FIELD
West Coast Relays
Friday, April 1, 2022
Veterans Memorial Stadium / Clovis, Calif.
 
SPU EVENTS ONLY
100 – 1, Cristian Moore (UCLA) 10.67.  SPU – 6, Jeff Gordon 10.90.
200 – 1, Myles Misener-Daley (UCLA) 20.92.  SPU – 10, Jeff Gordon 22.06.
400 – 1, Cameron Reynolds (UCLA) 46.11.  SPU – 15, Evan Carpenter 50.27.
800 – 1, Ryan Birkmeier (Colo. St.) 1:50.36.  SPU – 10, Isaiah Archer 1:54.42; 15, Jon Owen 1:59.87.
1500 – 1, Jacob Brueckman (Colo. St.) 3:43.81.  SPU – 16, Jon Owen 4:03.65; 22, Drew Thompson 4:18.42.
5000 – 1, Tyler Tickner (Cal Baptist) 15:01.14.  SPU – 2, Colin Boutin 15:07.51.
4x400 relay – 1, UCLA 3:09.29.  SPU – 7, Seattle Pacific (Evan Carpenter, David Njeri, Julius Shepherd, Isaiah Archer) 3:22.08.
400 hurdles – 1, Cass Elliiott (UW) 50.76.  SPU – 12, Julius Shepherd 57.02.
Pole vault – 1, Mathis Bresko (Cal Poly) 16-7¼ / 5.06m.  SPU – 9, Kainoa Lee 14-7½ / 4.46m. 
Long jump – 1, Tim Duckworth (Unattached) 24-10  7.57m.  SPU – 3, David Njeri 22-9 / 6.93m.
Triple jump – 1, Allam Bushara (Colo. St.) 49-11¾ / 15.23m.  SPU – 2, David Njeri 49-9¾ / 15.18m#.
 
#  NCAA provisional qualifying