THE SCHEDULE
Friday-Saturday Jan. 27-28               Seattle Pacific at UW Invitational
                                                    Dempsey Indoor / Seattle, Wash.
                                                    FRIDAY: Track events and Field events, 3:00 p.m.
                                                    SATURDAY: Track events 9:30 a.m.     Field events, 10:00 a.m.
                                                    Live Webcast        Live results
 

SEATTLE – From the 60 meters to the mile, and three of the four jumping events, the Seattle Pacific Falcons will be busy this weekend.
 
SPU athletes are entered in 11 different events for the two-day UW Invitational at Dempsey Indoor on the University of Washington campus.
 
A limited number of events are set for Friday, with a 3:00 p.m. start both on the track and in the field. Saturday will see much more action, with the first track races at 9:00 a.m. and the first jumps at 10:00 a.m.
 
The final event of the day for the Falcons will be the 4-by-400 relay, with the women racing at 3:30 p.m. and the men at 3:40.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Both days of the meet will have a pay-per-view live Webcast produced by RunnerSpace. The appropriate link is at the top of this story. Free live results will be offered both days. That link also is at the top of this story.
 
DOING A DAY AT THE DEMPSEY
The Dempsey Indoor facility is located at the north end of the UW athletic complex, right alongside Husky Stadium and directly adjacent to Husky Softball Stadium.
 
Tickets, all of which are general admission, are $10. Youths age 12 and under are free. Parking is available for purchase in lots E1 and E18, north of the Husky Ballpark baseball stadium.
 
Restrooms are available at Husky Softball Stadium and in the Husky Stadium east stands (the side closest to Dempsey). The restrooms inside Dempsey are exclusively for athletes, coaches, and officials.
 
A limited amount of seating on metal bleachers is available on both sides of the track.

Click on this link for more information.
 
SCOUTING THE UW INVITATIONAL
The Falcons will get started on Friday with the 200-meter dash, and the school record could be on the line. Jeff Gordon currently owns it with the 22.34 he posted in last year's GNAC preliminaries. He came close to that with a 22.40 at Spokane on Dec. 10. It also could be within reach for Julius Shepherd, as he went 22.64 at the UW Indoor Preview.
 
It could be a similar story on Saturday in the 60-meter dash. David Njeri has that SPU standard at 7.00. He and Gordon are among the four Falcons entered. Gordon has run it in both meets, with a 7.09 in Spokane and a 7.12 at the Indoor Preview. Njeri went 7.13 in the Preview.
 
 

Isaiah Archer has shown his speed in both the 400 and 800 meters, and is slated to do both. Archer has one mark so far in each race, clocking 1:56.77 in the 800 at Spokane (just slightly off his indoor best of 1:56.`1) and going 50.23 in the 400 at UW Indoor (PB is 49.71). Shepherd also is back in the 400.
 
 

National leader Vanessa Aniteye is back for her third time in the 800. At the Spokane Invite, she finished in 2:13.04, which was the early-season leader. Then at the UW Indoor, she went two-plus seconds faster, stopping the watch in 2:10.83. That is still the top time in all of Division II, and Aniteye got it even though she was well out in front of the field for her entire heat. On Saturday, the expectation is that she will be able to go racing with other top-caliber competitors, and that potentially could mean her first sub-2:10.
 
 

Senior distance runner Libby Michael came up with a strong performance in the 3000 meters on Jan. 14. She also was entered in the mile that day, but didn't wind up running it. This week, the mile is her only focus. Michael's PB from back in her freshman season of 2020, is 5:30.15. Current freshman Matise Mulch will go in the 5000 for the fist time on the track. (She ran two 5Ks in cross country last fall.)
 
Aniya Green broke a personal barrier in the 400 when she finished in 59.55 seconds on Jan. 14 – her first sub-minute time indoors. She's entered in that again on Saturday, along with Friday's 200.
 
 

After a season-opening triple jump distance of 47 feet, 3 ½ inches in Spokane, Njeri added 14 inches at the UW Preview, taking second place at 48-5 ½. His indoor best is 49-0¾. That event on Saturday actually could be a GNAC Championships preview, as the top three finishers from last year's conference meet are on the entry list: first-place Njeri, second-place Marley Harrison of Western Oregon, and third-place Colin Sample of Alaska Anchorage.
 
Freshman pole vaulter Kayla Tassara currently has the second-best height in the GNAC with her 11-9 from Jan. 14. She'll look to improve upon that. On that same day, Brad Bowman came up with a 7½-inch personal best in the men's competition, getting over at 13-11 ¼. Falcons teammate Kainoa Lee went the same height, and they currently are part of a four-way tie for the No. 3 spot on the GNAC list.
 
 

FIRST TO THE FINISH – FOUR TIMES
Julius Shepherd has been finding his way to the finish line ahead of everyone else so far this winter.
 
In the first two meets of the season, the junior sprinter has factored into four heat victories – three of his own and one as part of a relay.
 
At the Spokane Invitational on Dec. 10, Shepherd won hits heats of the 200-meter dash and the 400 dash. His time of 22.75 in the 200 was a personal best.
 
Then on Jan. 14 at the UW Indoor Preview, Shepherd won another 200 heat – and set another PB, this time at 22.64 seconds.

But he wasn't done yet. That day ended with the 4-by-400 relay, and the team of Isaiah Archer, Shepherd, Darius Holmes, and David Garcia won their heat in 3:26.15.

Shepherd will have a chance to keep it going this weekend as he is entered in the 200 on Friday, the 400 on Saturday, and is penciled in for SPU's 4-by-400 relay team on Saturday.

POINTING TOWARD THE GNAC POINTS
Heading into the weekend, the Falcons have 14 athletes who are among the top eight on the GNAC performance list. Both of the SPU 4-by-400 relays also are in the points.
 
MEN (No. 1 mark in parentheses)
-- Isaiah Archer 5th in 400 at 50.23 (49.53)
                         8th in 800 at 1:56.77 (1:52.06)
-- Brad Bowman tie 3rd in pole vault at 13-11 ¼ / 4.25m (14-11 / 4.55)
-- Brennan LeBlanc 4th in 5000 at 16:29.64 (13:59.55)
-- Kainoa Lee tie 3rd in pole vault at 13-11 ¼ / 4.25m (14-11 / 4.55)
-- David Njeri 1st in triple jump at 48-5 ½ / 14.77m
-- Julius Shepherd 6th in 200 at 22.40 (22.08)
-- SPU (Archer, Shepherd, Darius Holmes, David Garcia) 3rd in 4x400 relay at 3:26.15 (3:23.30)
 
WOMEN (No. 1 mark in parentheses)
-- Vanessa Aniteye 1st in 800 at 2:10.83
-- Hannah Chang 4th in 60 hurdles at 9.13 (8.79)
-- Marissa Crane 2nd in 400 at 58.77 (57.74)
-- Lizzy Daugherty 4th in pole vault at 10-9 / 3.28m (12-3 ½ / 3.75m)
-- Aniya Green 2nd in 200 at 25.91 (25.65)
                        Tie 3rd in 400 at 59.55 (57.74)
-- Charlie Hill 3rd in pole vault at 10-10 / 3.30m (12-3 ½ / 3.75m)
-- Libby Michael 2nd in 3000 at 10:07.54 (10:05.58)
-- SPU (Aniteye, Green, Chang, Johanna Brown) 3rd in 4x400 relay at 4:01.87 (3:57.43)
-- Kayla Tassara 2nd in pole vault at 11-9 / 3.58m (12-3 ½ / 3.75m)
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- Seattle Pacific will be joined by GNAC stablemates Alaska Anchorage, Central Washington, Saint Martin's, Simon Fraser, Western Oregon, and Western Washington this weekend.
 

-- While Aniya Green of the Falcons is No. 2 in the GNAC women's 200 rankings, Juliette Williams of Central Washington is No. 1, and both are entered.
-- The top six GNAC times in the men's 400 are within 1.1 seconds of each other – and Isaiah Archer is right in the mix. Of those six, five are slated to race it on Saturday.
-- Vanessa Aniteye's 2:10.83 in the 800 leads the country, but it's still a ways off from making the GNAC all-time top 10. The No. 10 time is 2:08.57 by Sarah Sawatzky of Simon Fraser in 2014.
-- That has been one of the conference's stronger events over the years, so it's a tough list to crack. Among the top 10 times is one from 2008, one from 2009, and one from 2011. That being said, the record was set just last season when Simon's Alison Andrews-Paul ran 2:04.04.
 
KEEPING AN EYE ON THE RECORD BOOK
Here are some SPU school records that are potentially within reach this winter:
 
Men's 60-meter dash – David Njeri 7.00 (Jeff Gordon 7.09 on Dec.10).
Men's 200 – Jeff Gordon 22.34 (Gordon 22.40 on Dec. 10)
Men's 400 – Mario Lopez 49.27 (Isaiah Archer 49.71 on Feb. 26, 2022)
Men's 60 hurdles – David Njeri 8.33.
Men's pole vault – Chris Randolph and Ray Zoellick 14-11 / 4.55m (Kainoa Lee 14-7 ¼ / 4.45m on Feb. 21, 2022)
Men's long jump – Justin Felt 23-2 ¾ / 7.08m (David Njeri 22-7 / 6.88m on Jan. 29, 2022)
 
AROUND THE WEST
Competitors from the Academy of Art continue to make their mark in the West Region, with six No. 1-ranked marks on the men's side and five on the women's side.
 
Azusa Pacific's men have four top rankings, and the women have three.
 
Of the nine GNAC programs, seven have an athlete at the top of the list, including SPU's Vanessa Aniteye in the women's 800. Simon Fraser has the most with three (two women, one man). Alaska Anchorage, Montana State Billings, Northwest Nazarene, Western Oregon, and Western Washington have one each.
 
Along with Aniteye, the West has three other national leaders, all on the women's side: Ayana Fields of Cal Poly Pomona in the 200 (23.71), Nicole Warnock of Azusa in the pentathlon (4,011 points), and the Art distance medley relay team (12:05.39).
 
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for this week's GNAC indoor track and field notebook. Click on this link for a look at GNAC leaders.
  
UP NEXT
The regular season for the Falcons winds up on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 10-11, in the Husky Classic at Dempsey Indoor. Friday's schedule begins at 2:00 p.m., and will include just a few events on the track. Action resumes on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. in the field and 11:30 a.m. on the track. The final event is set for 3:30 p.m.