CLOVIS, Calif. – The Seattle Pacific Falcons still need to get a bit faster if they hope to get their women's 4-by-100 relay into the NCAA meet.
But they certainly are trending in the right direction.
Teamed up for the fourth time this spring, SPU's
Peace Igbonagwam,
Vanessa Aniteye,
Aniya Green and
Jenna Bouyer clocked a season-best 46.43 seconds on Saturday afternoon at the Fresno State Invitational.
That foursome came into the day ranked No. 26 on the NCAA Division II provisional qualifying list (in actuality, No. 23, as three schools had two teams listed ahead of the Falcons, but only one team per school can be entered into the national meet).
The time on the track inside Veterans Memorial Stadium elevated Seattle Pacific to No. 16 as of Saturday evening, with other weekend results from around the country still to be entered into the national data system.
The "desired minimum" number of entries into the NCAA meet for each of the two relays (4-by-100 and 4-by-400) is 14. The maximum number accepted is 16 in each relay, but there is no guarantee that meet officials will accept any more than the minimum.
Igbonagwam, Aniteye, Green, and Bouyer first got together on March 12 at the PLU Open to begin the outdoor season. Their time that day was 47.37.
Then back in Tacoma two weeks later on March 26, albeit this time at Puget Sound for the Peyton-Shotwell Invitational, they went 47.00.
Just six days after that in the West Coast Relays around the same oval on which they ran Saturday, they went 46.70, thereby earning a place on the NCAA provisional list.
ANOTHER BIG ONE FOR NJERI
David Njeri had another personal-best mark in the men's triple jump on the same runway where he got his previous one.
David Njeri
Njeri flew 49 feet, 10 inches on his first of three attempts in the finals, which was far enough to give him second place. Njeri's mark had him in the lead until New Mexico's Aidan Quinn went 50 feet, 8 inches on his final attempt.
At the West Coast Relays here on April 1, Njeri went 49 feet, 9¾ inches.
He's No. 11 on the NCAA provisional qualifying list as of Saturday evening.
Njeri had three consecutive jump in the 49 neighborhood: 49-5 ¾ to finish the preliminaries, then 49-10 to open the finals, and 49-0 ¼ on his second finals jump.
AND THAT'S NOT ALL
-- About an hour after the women's 4-by-100 relay,
Jenna Bouyer was back on the track for the 400-meter dash, and recorded her personal-best time of 56.10 seconds. It was her first ever sub-57, and was nearly a full second faster than her previous PB of 57.07 on April 9 at the PLU Invite. Coming into the season, her PB was 57.89.
--
Evan Carpenter set a personal-best of 22.45 seconds in the men's 200-meter dash. That bettered the 22.50 had just last Saturday at the Wildcat Invitational in Ellensburg. Carpenter also nearly beat his PB of 50.27 in the 400. His time on Saturday was 50.28.
SPU's Nicki Yorges ran her first-ever collegiate 5000 meters on Saturday, and won the race in Bellingham.
RALPH VERNACCHIA INVITATIONAL
Nicki Yorges not only made her 5000-meters debut on Saturday, she made her debut in the win column, too.
With guidance from SPU volunteer assistant coach Ali Ostrander, Falcon freshman was first across the finish line in the 5K at the Ralph Vernacchia Invitational. She finished her 12½ laps around the Civic Stadium track in Bellingham in 18 minutes, 14.73 seconds.
Yorges' previous long race on an oval was the 3000 meters during this past winter's indoor season, going that distance twice. Until Saturday, she had focused on the 800 and 1500 this spring.
--A trio of Falcons got to take a try at the outdoor mile, a race which is not offered at most meets because it is not an NCAA outdoor event.
Annika Esvelt finished third in the women's race with a time of 4 minutes, 53.32 seconds. That was 13 seconds faster than her only indoor try at the mile, 5:06.38 last Dec. 11 at the Spokane Invitational.
In the men's race, Jon Owen went 4:26.81 for 13
th, and Drew Thompson had a 4:30.88 for 14
th.
NCAA WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD
Fresno State Invitational
Saturday, April 30, 2022
Veterans Memorial Stadium / Clovis, Calif.
Team scores – Not kept.
SPU EVENTS ONLY
400 – 1, Lauren Gale (Colo. St.) 51.99.
SPU – 9,
Jenna Bouyer 56.10!; 10,
Vanessa Aniteye 56.12!.
800 – 1, Whitney Hessler (U. San Francisco) 2:11.51.
SPU – 11,
Ellie Rising 2:14.49.
4x100 relay – 1, Washington State 45.10.
SPU – 5, Seattle Pacific (
Peace Igbonagwam,
Vanessa Aniteye,
Aniya Green,
Jenna Bouyer) 46.43#.
4x400 relay – 1, Colorado State 3:36.42.
SPU – 7, Seattle Pacific (
Peace Igbonagwam,
Jenna Bouyer,
Aniya Green,
Vanessa Aniteye) 3:52.87.
Long jump – 1, Shayla Howell (Wyoming) 20-9 / 6.32m.
SPU – 24,
Peace Igbonagwam 16-7¼ / 5.06m.
Ralph Vernacchia Invitational
Saturday, April 30, 2022
Civic Stadium / Bellingham, Wash.
Team scores – Not kept.
SPU EVENTS ONLY
Mile – 1, Kyla Becker (UBC) 4:52.07.
SPU – 3,
Annika Esvelt 4:53.32.
5000 – 1,
Nicki Yorges (SPU) 18:14.73. No other SPU.
400 hurdles – 1, Eden Mortensen (St. Martin's) 1:07.20.
SPU – 4,
McKenzie Fletcher 1:08.62; 9
Johanna Brown 1:10.81.
Pole vault – 1, Lily Luksich (PLU) 11-11¾ / 3.65m.
SPU – 2,
Madison Licari 11-7¾ / 3.55m!; 6,
Charlie Hill 11-1¾ / 3.40m!; 7,
Lizzy Daugherty 11-1¾ / 3.40m!; 14,
Emily Northey 9-2¼ / 2.80m.
NCAA MEN'S TRACK & FIELD
Fresno State Invitational
Saturday, April 30, 2022
Veterans Memorial Stadium / Clovis, Calif.
Team scores – Not kept.
SPU EVENTS ONLY
100 – 1, Alonzo Florielli (Cal St. Fullerton) 10.37.
SPU – 23, Jeff Gordon 10.97.
200 – 1, Alonzo Floriolli (Cal St. Fullerton) 20.84.
SPU – 23, Jeff Gordon 22.21; 27, Evan Carpenter 22.45.
400 – 1, Tom Williams (Colo. St.) 47.22.
SPU – 17, Evan Carpenter 50.28.
800 – 1, Christian Rodriguez (San Jose St.) 1:51.84.
SPU – 11, Isaiah Archer 1:55.28.
4x400 relay – 1, New Mexico 3:06.76.
SPU – 8, Seattle Pacific (Jeff Gordon, Evan Carpenter, Julius Shepherd, Isaiah Archer) 3:27.42.
400 hurdles – 1, Jonathan Birchman (UW) 51.02.
SPU – 19, Julius Shepherd 57.75.
Triple jump – 1, Aidan Quinn (New Mexico) 50-8 / 15.44m.
SPU – 2, David Njeri 49-10 / 15.19m.
Ralph Vernacchia Invitational
Saturday, April 30, 2022
Civic Stadium / Bellingham, Wash.
Team scores – Not kept.
SPU EVENTS ONLY
100 – 1, Riley Beecroft (UBC) 11.26.
SPU – 7, Darius Holmes 11.61.
Mile – 1, Maculey Franks (WWU) 4:03.64.
SPU – 13, Jon Owen 4:26.81; 14, Drew Thompson 4:30.88.
5000 – 1, Roberto Aguilera Jr. (Unattached) 14:42.24.
SPU – 14, Brennan LeBlanc 15:44.76; 15, Gabe Endresen 15:51.04; 17, Ben Sheirbon 16:10.29.
Pole vault – 1, Kacey Provo (WWU) 15-5¾ / 4.72m.
SPU – 4, Kainoa Lee 14-0 / 4.27m.
