THE SCHEDULE
Saturday, March 18:             Seattle Pacific at Doris Heritage Track Festival
                                             Renton Memorial Stadium / Renton, Wash.
                                             Field events, 11:00 a.m.     Track events, Noon
                                             No live Webcast         Live results


SEATTLE – Same meet. New home.
 
With the spring opener now two weeks in the past and the winter indoor season complete, the Seattle Pacific Falcons will turn their full attention to the outdoor track and field schedule. That begins on Saturday when they host the seventh annual Doris Heritage Track Festival.
 
After taking place at West Seattle Stadium for the first six years (except for 2020 when the season was canceled by the pandemic shutdown), competition moves south to Renton Memorial Stadium.
 
Field events begin at 11:00 a.m., and the first race on the track is at noon. The last event of the day is the women's 4-by-400 relay, scheduled for 3:40 p.m.

Following the final race, Seattle Pacific will celebrate Senior Day in honor of 10 Falcons who are moving on after the season.
 
The meet is expected to proceed at a steadier clip with the move to Renton. The pole vault and javelin both can take place at the same time, since the pole vault runway is inside the stadium and the javelin runway is behind the visitors stands on the north side. (At West Seattle, the two runways intersected, meaning the pole vault could not start until the javelin was completed.)
 
Also, side-by-side runways at the east end (the end opposite the scoreboard) will allow men and women to compete simultaneously in the horizontal jumps.
 
KEEPING TRACK OF THE ACTION
Live results will be available throughout the day. The appropriate link is at the top of this story. The meet will not have a live Webcast.
 
A LITTLE BIT OF WARMTH … MAYBE (FINALLY?)
No question, it has been a miserable cold and wet few months. But perhaps things are about to take a turn for the better. Saturday's forecast calls for morning clouds giving way to mostly sunny skies all day, and temperatures are expected to push into the low 60s. It likely will stay dry, as well. Winds are expected to be light, but as is true of many local stadiums, Renton can feel like a wind tunnel at times.
 

GETTING THERE
Whether coming from north or south on Interstate 5, takes Exit 154 toward northbound I-405. Follow 405 north to Exit 5 State Route 900 / Sunset Blvd. Turn left off the exit, and follow that road past Renton Boeing (on your right) and The Landing shopping center (on your left) for approximately 1½ miles. Renton Stadium will be on your right.
 
If coming from Bellevue or other points on the Eastside, head south on I-405 to Exit 5 State Route 900 / Sunset Blvd. Turn right off the exit, then drive past Renton Boeing and The Landing to Renton Stadium.
 
If coming north on SR 167, follow it past the major intersection at Grady Way, at which point it becomes Rainier Avenue. Continue north until coming to the Renton Avenue Extension (another major intersection) and get into the right-turn lane. Follow that road for approximately half a mile (it will curve around to your left), and the stadium will be on your left.
 
The address of Renton Stadium is 405 Logan Ave. N., Renton, Wash. 98057.


 


















SALUTING THE SENIORS
Following the meet, a Senior Day celebration will take place under the covered area next to the visitors' grandstands on the north side. Senior Day has been a part of the Doris Heritage meet since 2017 to honor those from track and cross country who will be moving on from Seattle Pacific at the end of the academic year.
 
This year's group on the women's side includes Vanessa Aniteye, McKenzie Fletcher, and Libby Michael.
 
For the men, it's Colin Boutin, Brad Bowman, Jeff Gordon, Rory McClelland, Jon Owen, Julius Shepherd, and Solomon Wittrell.

WELCOME TO RENTON
Renton Memorial Stadium is owned and operated by the Renton School District. It is the home venue for Renton, Hazen, and Lindbergh high schools, not only for track and field, but also for football and soccer. It also hosts non-high school competitions in those three sports. Last December, it was the site for the women's field hockey semifinals and finals as part of the NCAA Division II Fall Sports Festival that was hosted by Seattle Pacific. Seating capacity is approximately 5,500.
 
Ample parking (including several ADA spots) is available in the main lot just outside of the large (home) grandstand. Plenty of covered seating is available on both sides. The track finish line is on the home side.
 
There is no admission charge. A limited number of meet programs, which will include a schedule and meet records, with heat sheets stuffed inside, will be available at the gate.
 
THE LEGACY OF DORIS HERITAGE
Known as the First Lady of American distance running, Doris Heritage was a two-time Olympian, won five straight international cross country titles from 1967-71, and at one juncture owned every American and world record from the 440 to the mile (prior to when all events were converted to metric measurements).
 
Along with the late Dr. Ken Foreman, Heritage brought national athletic prominence to Seattle Pacific, specifically to the cross country and track programs.
 
Heritage, who went on to become a long-time coach of the Falcons, is a member of six national halls of fame and is a charter member of the Falcon Legends Hall of Fame.

 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- After Seattle Pacific took over sponsorship of the meet in 2016, it was named the Doris Heritage Distance Festival. Events range from 200 to 10,000 meters, with no hurdles and no relays. Field events were limited to high jump, pole vault, long jump, and shot put.
-- In 2018, the format was modified to include almost every event on the card, and the name was changed to Doris Heritage Track Festival.
-- The meet is one of the longest-running in the area. The current list of records has one that was set in 1989 and is still standing: the women's 5000 meters (16:11.6 by Kim Dryden of Nike Portland).
-- Speaking of meet records, two were set last year: SPU's own Vanessa Aniteye in the women's 800 meters (2:11.16) and Washington's Jelani Heath in the women's long jump 18 feet, 10 inches / 5.74 meters
-- Seattle Pacific has three meet records, of one which is Aniteye's. The other two are both relays. One of those is from the Spring Break Open days (3:53.84 in the women's 4-by-400 with Tasia Baldwin, Lynelle Decker, McKayla Fricker, and Jasmine Johnson in 2013), and the other from the 2019 Doris Heritage Track Festival in the women's 4-by-100  (47.52 by Renick Meyer, Jenna Bouyer, Grace Bley, and Julia Stepper).
 
SCOUTING THE DORIS HERITAGE TRACK FESTIVAL
Not only is nearly every Falcon entered into Saturday's meet, most are entered in multiple events.

 

Isaiah Archer and Darius Holmes are slated to have the busiest days. Archer is in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, and is penciled in for both the 4-by-100 and 4-by-400 relays. Holmes is entered in the 400, the pole vault, and the javelin, along with the 4-by-400. He is coming off an eighth-place finish in the GNAC indoor heptathlon last month, and would like to give it a go in the outdoor decathlon at some point this spring. His three individual events on Saturday are all part of the dec.
 
Julius Shepherd also is in both relays, along with the 400 dash. He was joined by Evan Carpenter, Jon Owen and Jeff Gordon on the winning 4-by-4 at the season-opening Ed Boitano Invitational on March 4 in Tacoma.
 
Gordon is slotted for both relays again, along with the 400. Owen is entered in the 800 and the mile, along with a place on one of SPU's four entries in the 4-by-4. Carpenter is not competing this week.
 
SPU is giving its entire 10-man distance crew a chance to race an outdoor mile. All 10 of them also are entered in the 800.
 
Kainoa Lee and Brad Bowman will join Holmes in the pole vault. Lee already has a 14-footer this spring, going 14-2 at the Ed Boitano.
 
David Njeri, along with the 100-meter dash and 4-by-100 relay, will be on the triple jump runway. He went as far as 48-11 indoors this winter, and flew 49-10 last April 30 at the Ralph Vernacchia Invitational in Bellingham.
 
 

Hannah Chang is looking at a four-event day in the women's meet. She placed ninth in the GNAC indoor pentathlon last month, her first try at a multi-event competition. On Saturday, she'll compete in three of the seven events that make up the outdoor heptathlon, going in he 100-meter hurdles, long jump, and javelin. She's also entered on one of SPU's 4-by-400 relays. Also entered in four events is freshman Maliyah Hicks (100, 200, long jump and 4x400). Aniya Green will join Hicks in the 100 and 200 and is slated for a 4-by-4.
 
SPU's five distance runner entries are all looking at the 800 / mile double.
 
Lizzy Daugherty already has a pole vault win, thanks to her current GNAC-leading clearance of 11-9 ¾ at the Ed Boitano meet. She's back in that one, along with Charlie Hill.
 
VICTORY FOR VANESSA IN VIRGINIA
She did it. Vanessa Aniteye is a national champion.
 
 

The SPU senior took the lead heading into the final lap and hung on to win the women's 800-meter title at the NCAA Division II meet last Saturday in Virginia Beach.
 
Not only did Aniteye win it, she did so in a school indoor record time of 2 minutes, 6.84 seconds. The broke the old record of 2:07.52 set by Lynelle Decker in a second-place finish at the 2016 NCAAs.
 
Aniteye and Colorado State Pueblo's Helen Braybrook went back and forth for the entire four laps. Braybrook surged ahead a the 400-meter mark, then Aniteye made a surge of her own approaching the bell lap. Whenever Aniteye appeared to be opening a gap, Braybrook closed it right back up, but the Falcon star stayed in front all the way to the finish line.
 
Her winning margin was two-tenths of a second, as Braybrook clocked 2:07.04. The top five finishers were within three-quarters of a second of each other, and the top seven all bettered their times from Friday's preliminary heats.
 
Aniteye is the eighth national indoor champion for SPU.
 
LET'S MAKE IT A MILE
Instead of running a 1500-meter race on Saturday, as most springtime meets do, the Doris Heritage Festival will offer a one-mile race.
 
The mile has always had a certain "gold standard" feel to it. Even today, long after it has faded from the international outdoor spotlight, running a sub four-minute mile is still a big deal.
 
But the NCAA made the switch in 1976, and now, the 1500 is often referred to as the "metric mile." (Officially, 1500 is 109.34 meters short of a full mile.)
 
 

Of the 10 SPU men and five women entered in the mile on Saturday, only Jon Owen has run it outdoors, at last year's Ralph Vernacchia Invitational in Bellingham (which always offers the mile). Owen clocked 4:26.81.
 
Having said all of that, the mile is still a standard NCAA event during the winter indoor season. All five Falcon women have raced it at least once under a roof. Owen, Colin Boutin, and Rory McClelland are the only SPU men to have done so.
 

UP NEXT
The will head to Southern California next week for a pair of meets. Up first is the Mangrum Invitational in San Marcos on Friday, March 24. Then it will be a 35-mile drive south to San Diego for Saturday's Point Loma Collegiate Invitational.