ALLENDALE, Mich. – When Vanessa Aniteye started her comeback track season, her initial thought was to get as close as possible to where she was in 2019, the last time she competed.
 
By the time Aniteye finished that comeback season on Saturday afternoon at the NCAA Division II Championships, she had left 2019 way behind.
 
Left her own Seattle Pacific school record in the 400-meter dash way behind, too.
  Aniteye sprinted to a sixth-place finish in the finals of the 400, clocking 53.64 seconds, breaking the school mark for the third time in eight weeks, and logging her first collegiate sub-54 in what was the last outdoor race of her college career.
 
It ranks No. 2 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference history, trailing only the 53.56 set by Mary Pearce of Alaska Anchorage in 2007. It also was Aniteye's lifetime best at any level of competition, bettering the 53.69 she clocked at the German U23 championship meet in Leverkusen back in June 2017.

 

"I was just like, 'Wow!' I was in awe," Aniteye said of her first reaction after seeing the time on the scoreboard inside Grand Valley State Lacrosse / Track & Field Stadium. "It would have been one thing to go run a 53.9 and be like, 'OK, I'm back in the 53s.' But to run the best I've ever done, after everything I've been through and having my son and all that … wow."
 
Top-seeded Shereen Vallabouy of Winona State (Minnesota) won the race with room the spare in 52.68 seconds, with Ayana Fields of Cal Poly Pomona second in 53.44.
 
Aniteye was one of three runners – all of them from the West Region – who literally hit the line at the same time. Fresno Pacific teammates Madison Flores and Danae Manibog were both at 53.63 (Flores got the edge, 53.621 to 53.627) and Aniteye at 53.64.
 
"I got out well, which was the plan," said Aniteye, who was third while going around the final turn. "I was in really good position at the 250. These other girls coming from sprints like the 200, they usually would have made up the stagger at that point, and they hadn't yet. So I was like, 'Well, I'm just going to keep it going – I need to go now, I can't wait to do that at the end.
 
"I think I definitely kicked early," Aniteye added. "Coming off the turn, I was in good position, and slowly in that last 100 is when they came up on me. But I'm still super happy with my time and how I ran the race."

 

Added SPU head coach Karl Lerum, "I'm just happy that she came out, got to the national meet, and ran a lifetime best – that's all you can ask for. I wasn't surprised about the time – we've really been trying to emphasize Vanessa's start. When I saw her run, I felt pretty confident that her time was going to be good."

Aniteye starred for three years (2017-19) for Alaska Anchorage, but left after her junior season. In May 2020, she gave birth to son Josiah. Last spring, with one year of eligibility remaining, Aniteye started pondering a return to track and reached out to Lerum. She enrolled at Seattle Pacific last fall.
 
After running some relays and a couple of 800s during the first month of the season, Aniteye stepped to the starting line for the 400 on April 1 at the West Coast Relays in Clovis, California – her first race in that event since the 2019 NCAAs. She promptly went out and broke the six-year-old school record with a time of 54.60.
 
A bout with Covid knocked her out of action for most of April. Her first race back was at the Fresno State Invitational – on the same oval as the West Coast Relays – and she finished in 56.12.
 
"My season started out amazing. I ran that 54.60, and that was the fastest season opener I've ever had," Aniteye said. "Then I had a couple of bumps, having Covid, and came back and ran a 56 – that was kind of discouraging. I was even wondering if I could get back to 54.60."
 
She did, going 54.62 on May 14 at the GNAC Championships to win her fourth conference crown in the 400. In Thursday's NCAA prelims, she logged her college-best 54.18 (she'd run 54.19 at Anchorage), her second school record in that race.
 
Then came Saturday's 53.64 in her first trip to an NCAA individual finals and resulting in her first individual All-American award.
 
"Coming back here  to the national meet, getting my first All-American and a lifetime PR – that's huge. That exceeded all of my expectations," Aniteye said. "I feel very blessed. I could not have asked for a better season and a better way to end my college outdoor career."

Although Saturday was her final outdoor race for the Falcons, she has one season of indoor eligibility remaining, which she plans to use next winter.
 
AND THAT'S NOT ALL
 

-- Annika Esvelt capped her sophomore season by running to a 10th-place finish in the 5000 meters on Saturday. She finished in 16 minutes, 40.70 seconds. Esvelt was right with the lead pack through 3000 meters before the front runners began to pull farther ahead. Brianna Robles of Adams State won in 16:07.84, surging away from Fatima Alanis of Queens down the final 100 meters. Esvelt's finish earned her Second Team All-American status, going along with her First Team award from finishing fourth in the 10,000 meters on Thursday.
-- David Njeri was 18th in the triple jump at 46 feet, 4 inches. He had gone as far as 49-10 during the season, but sustained a hamstring injury during the long jump at the GNAC Championships on May 13, which limited what he could do in the final two weeks leading up NCAAs.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD
NCAA Division II Championships
Thursday-Saturday, May 26-28, 2022
Grand Valley State Lacrosse - Track & Field Stadium / Allendale, Mich.
 
Top 10 team scores – 1, West Texas A&M 77; 2, Grand Valley State 64; 3, Minnesota State 57; 4, Academy of Art 44; 5, Lincoln-Missouri 41; 6, Azusa Pacific 38; 7, Adams State 33; 8, Texas A&M-Commerce 26; 9, Pittsburg State 25; 10, Fresno Pacific 23; T30, Seattle Pacific 8.
 
SATURDAY FINALS
SPU events only
 
400 – 1, Shereen Vallabouy (Winona State) 52.68.  SPU – 6, Vanessa Aniteye 53.64 (school record, breaks old record of 54.18 set by Aniteye in Thursday's preliminaries).
5000 – 1, Brianna Robles (Adams State) 16:07.84.  SPU – 10, Annika Esvelt 16:40.70.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S TRACK & FIELD
NCAA Division II Championships
Thursday-Saturday, May 26-28, 2022
Grand Valley State Lacrosse - Track & Field Stadium / Allendale, Mich.
 
Top 10 team scores – 1, Pittsburg State 70; 2, West Texas A&M 61; 3, Grand Valley State 56, 4, Texas A&M-Commerce 48; 5, Ashland 34; T6, Adams State, Lincoln-Missouri, and Missouri Southern 30; 9, Colorado Mines 29; T10, Academy of Art and Central Missouri 27. SPU 0.
 
SATURDAY FINALS
SPU events only
 
Triple jump – 1, Mathieu Tshani (Acad. of Art) 53-1½ / 16.19m.  SPU – 18, David Njeri 46-4 / 14.12m.