THE SCHEDULE
Saturday, April 30                          Seattle Pacific at Ralph Vernacchia Invitational
                                                Civic Stadium / Bellingham, Wash.
                                                Track events, 9:30 a.m.     Field events, 10:50 a.m.
                                                No live Webcast        Live results
 
                                                Seattle Pacific at Fresno State Invitational
                                                Veterans Memorial Stadium / Clovis, Calif.
                                                Track events, 1:00 p.m.     Field events 10:00 a.m.
                                                Live Webcast (pay-per-view)        Live results
                                               

SEATTLE – The Seattle Pacific Falcons will be going their separate ways this Saturday.
 
One group will pile into the vans and head north to Bellingham for the Ralph Vernacchia Invitational. Track events begin at 9:30 a.m., but the first race for the Falcons won't be until 10:55 a.m. when the open division of the women's 5000 meters takes the starting line. Field events start at 9:00, SPU's first event is the women's pole vault at 10:50.
 
A select group will fly off to California for the Fresno State Invitational. They will gather at Veterans Memorial Stadium – the same venue where Seattle Pacific athletes had so much success at the West Coast Relays on April 1. Track events start at 1:00 p.m.
 
This will be SPU's first trip to the Vernacchia Invite since 2019. The 2020 event was canceled because of the pandemic, and the team did not compete there last year.
 
For those Falcons in Fresno, it will be their third California adventure this month. Along with the West Coast Relays, they were at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa on April 14-15.
 
KEEPING TRACK OF THE ACTION
Both meets will have live results. The appropriate links can be found at the top of this story. The Fresno meet also will have pay-per-view live streaming through FloTrack. That link also is at the top of this story.
 
BALMY IN CALI – BUT NOT IN BELLINGHAM
The Bellingham-bound Falcons will be competing in typical springtime Northwest weather: cloudy and likely wet. The forecast calls for temperatures into the mid 50s and a nearly 100 percent chance of rain. For a change, winds to  not figure to be a factor.
 
Much different story for Clovis, which should be to the delight of all the Falcon sprinters heading there. That forecast calls for mostly sunny with highs moving into the mid 80s. No rain here, although they night have to deal with some wind gusts.
 
GETTING THERE
For those wanting to watch the action in Bellingham, take Exit 253 (Lakeway Drive) off northbound Interstate 5. As you are curving around the off-ramp, that will bring you to Potter Street, and the stadium light standards should be visible ahead and off to the left. Follow Potter Street up to Moore Street, turn left and drive past the baseball field (Joe Martin Stadium) and turn right on Civic Field Way.
 
Civic Stadium has a large parking lot; there typically is no problem finding a space.
 
SCOUTING THE FRESNO STATE INVITATIONAL
So often, the 4-by-100 relay can set the tone for an entire day. That certainly was the case four weeks ago at Veterans Memorial Stadium in the West Coast Relays when the foursome of Peace Igbonagwam, Vanessa Aniteye, Aniya Green, and Jenna Bouyer posted an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 46.70 seconds. Those same four speedsters will give it another go.
 
They'll also team up again in the 4-by-400, looking to improve upon their NCAA time of 3:45.91 that they posted on this oval. That currently ranks No. 14 nationally, which is right on the bubble for making the nationals cut.
 
 

Along with the relays, Aniteye and Bouyer are also in the open 400. Aniteye set a school record of 54.60 here on April 1, which currently ranks No. 7 on the national list. Bouyer set a personal-best of 57.07, a sizable drop from her previous PB of 57.89.
 
Igbonagwam and Green will do the 100 and 200. Green is coming off a lifetime best of 12.65 in the 100 at last Saturday's Wildcat Invitational, and had a PB of 25.71 in the 200 at Bryan Clay on April 15. Igbonagwam has not yet run the 100 this year, but did set a PB of 24.77 in the 200 on March 26 at the Peyton-Shotwell Invitational.
 
In addition to racing, Igbonagwam will do the long jump, coming off her best-ever mark of 19 feet, 8 ¼ inches last Saturday in Ellensburg.
 
The Falcon men are stacking their 4-by-400 relay, looking for an even faster time than the 3:22.08 they posted in Clovis at West Coast. Isaiah Archer, David Njeri, Evan Carpenter, and Julius Shepherd will carry the baton.
 
 

Njeri is back in the triple jump, having gone a best-ever 49 feet, 9 ¾ inches on this same runway four weeks ago. That still ranks No. 9 nationally.
 
Carpenter will do the 200 and 400. He came close to breaking 50 seconds in the 400 on April 1, clocking 50.27. Archer ran his best-ever 800 meters on this same track, going 1:54.42, and is in that event again.
 
Sprinter Jeff Gordon is focusing on the 100 and 200. He went 10.90 in the 100 in Clovis, just one-hundredth of a second shy of his personal best. That same day, he went 22.06 in the 200; his PB is 22.02.
 
SCOUTING THE RALPH VERNACCHIA INVITATIONAL
 

While five Falcons will get to run a traditional mile (see "The mile lives on in Bellingham," below), a handful of their teammates are going much longer. Colin Boutin, Gabe Endresen, Brennan LeBlanc, and Ben Sheirbon are all in the men's 5000, and Nicki Yorges is in the women's race. Boutin is taking aim at his first sub 15-minute time, having gone 15:05.23 at the Doris Heritage Track Festival on March 19.
 
Sheirbon and Yorges are going that distance for the first time on a track. Endresen and LeBlanc both did the 5K at the Doris Heritage meet, and LeBlanc ran one indoors at the GNAC Championships.
 
SPU will have its full complement of pole vaulters, with Madison Licari trying for her second 12-footer in the women's meet, and Kainoa Lee taking another shot at his first 15-footer on the men's side.
 
THE MILE LIVES ON IN BELLINGHAM
Long after track converted its distances from English to metric, there are still many who believe the one event that never should have changed is the mile.
 
It's still around for the indoor season. It's still the first timed split on every cross country course. Even the 1500 meters, which essentially replaced the mile for outdoor track, is referred to as the metric mile.
 
But because it's not an NCAA outdoor event, very few meets offer it anymore.
 
The Vernacchia Invite has kept the traditional mile on its card, five Falcons will get to run it on Saturday: Annika Esvelt, Libby Michael, and Kelsey Washenberger on the women's side, along with Jon Owen and Drew Thompson on the men's.
 
 

Washenberger has gone that distance the most – six times during her career. Most of those have been indoors. Her one outdoor mile was in 2019 at the Mike Fanelli Track Classic in Hayward, Calif., when she finished in 5:14.03. Washenberger's personal best was 5:11.43 at the 2019 WSU Cougar Indoor.
 
 

Owen has run it three times, all indoors, with a best of 4:25.50 on Jan. 29 at the UW Invitational. Esvelt ran it indoors at the Spokane Invitational last Dec. 11, clocking 5:06.38. Michael has done it twice indoors, although not since 2020, with a PB of 5:30.15.
 


IGBONAGWAM LEAPS TO WEEKLY AWARD
Peace Igbonagwam flew a personal-best 19 feet, 8¼ inches to win the long jump on Saturday at the Wildcat Invitational in Ellensburg, and on Monday won the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Women's Field Athlete of the Week award.
 
 

For the Seattle Pacific senior, it was the fifth time in her career that she has landed in the 19-foot neighborhood. Saturday's performance put her No. 4 on the school's all-time list for that event and No. 2 on the GNAC list.
 
Her 19-8¼ distance on the English scale converts to 6.00 on the metric scale, making her just the second-ever GNAC woman to hit the 6-meter mark. The only other one to do so was former Falcons star Renick Meier, who went 20-5 / 6.26 meters in the 2018 conference heptathlon competition.
 
Igbonagwam's other outdoor 19-footer came as a freshman in 2019 at the Aztec Invitational in San Diego. Her other three have come indoors, including her previous overall lifetime best of 19-7½ at the 2019 GNAC Championships.
 
This is Igbonagwam's second Athlete of the Week award. Her previous one was the indoor track honor on Feb. 11, 2020.
 
ADDING UP THE W's
With her victory in the long jump at the Wildcat Invite last week, Peace Igbonagwam now has three individual event wins for the season, the most of any Falcon. She also has been on five winning relays, giving her eight W's overall.
 
Others SPU athletes with multiple individual wins (two each) are Jenna Bouyer, Annika Esvelt, Ellie Rising, Isaiah Archer, and Jeff Gordon. Bouyer also has run on four winning relays
 
Vanessa Aniteye has one individual win and, but has helped five relays cross the finish line first, while David Njeri has been part of four first-place relays, along with one individual victory. Archer, Gordon, and Julius Shepherd have carried the baton for three winning relays.
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
For the NCAA Division II Championships, May 26-28 in Allendale, Michigan, "desired minimum" number of participants for individual events is 20 (maximum of 24); the desired minimum for relays is 14 (maximum 16).
 
Several Falcons already have made the provisional qualifying standard. (There are no longer automatic standards.)
 
-- Vanessa Aniteye is No. 7 in the women's 400-meter dash at 54.60. No. 1 time: 52.40.  No. 20 time: 55.39.
-- Annika Esvelt is No. 6 in the women's 5000 meters at 16:14.31. No. 1 time: 15:28.41.  No. 20 time: 16:36.32.
-- Esvelt is No. 9 in the 10,000 at 34:20.76. No. 1 time: 32:50.06.  No. 20 time: 35:32.89.
-- Peace Igbonagwam is tied for No. 10 in the long jump at 19-8¼ / 6.00m.  No. 1 mark: 21-7½ / 6.59m.  No. 20 mark: 19-1½ / 5.83m.
-- David Njeri is No. 9 in the men's triple jump at 49 feet, 9 ¾ inches. No. 1 mark: 53-8 ¼ / 16.36m.  No. 20 mark: 48-10 / 14.88m.
-- Ellie Rising is No. 31 in the women's 800 at 2:11.83. No. 1 time: 2:01.43.  No. 20 time: 2:10.61.
-- The women's 4-by-100 relay team of Peace Igbonagwam, Vanessa Aniteye, Aniya Green, and Jenna Bouyer is No. 23 at 46.70.  No. 1 time: 44.65. No. 20 time: 46.27.
-- The women's 4-by-400 relay team of Igbonagwam, Bouyer, Green, and Aniteye is No. 14 at 3:45.91. No. 1 time: 3:38.36.

Click on this link for the latest list of national provisional qualifiers. Click on this link to see how everyone stacks up within the GNAC.
 
POLLING PLACE
The SPU woman are still No. 10 in the West Region and remain at No. 34 nationally in this week's rankings compiled by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
 
Azusa Pacific is atop the West list and is No. 3 nationally behind West Texas A&M. Elsewhere in the West, Simon Fraser is No. 6, Western Washington is No. 8, and then at Nos. 11-12-13 are Western Oregon, Alaska Anchorage, and Central Washington, respectively.
 
UP NEXT: WINDING DOWN THE REGULAR SEASON
Although it seems as if the outdoor schedule just got started on a mid-March Saturday at Pacific Lutheran, the end of the regular season is at hand for SPU.
 
The final meet prior to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships is next Saturday, May 7 when the Falcons head to Portland Twilight at Lewis & Clark College. The meet has only track events, no field events. Racing begins at 3:30 p.m., and the last event is set for 8:45 p.m.
 
For the past several years, Seattle Pacific has done its final pre-conference tune-up across town at Husky Track in the Ken Shannon Invitational. However, that meet is no longer happening, Still wanting to have that final chance to get ready for GNACs, the Falcon coaching staff considered its options and chose the Portland meet.