SAN DIEGO – David Njeri kept jumping farther than everyone else. And Lizzy Daughery kept vaulting higher. Or in her case …
 
… national-caliber higher.
 
Seattle Pacific's Njeri won two events, and Daughery made an NCAA Division II provisional-qualifying height in the pole vault on Saturday at the Point Loma Collegiate Invitational track and field meet.
 
Njeri won the long jump with a leap of 22 feet, 7 ¾ inches. Later in the day, he took the triple jump at 46 feet even.
 
Daugherty won the women's pole vault with a clearance of 12 feet, 3 ¼ inches. That's exactly the same as the D2 provisional mark.
 
Isaiah Archer of the Falcons won the men's 400-meter dash in a personal-best time of 48.68 seconds.

 

Njeri's long jump was his first of the spring. At the season-opening Ed Boitano Invitational in Tacoma on March 4, he did just the 200-meter dash. At last week's Doris Heritage Track Festival in Renton, he ran the 100-meter dash and was on the 4-by-100 relay. On Frday at the Mangrum Invitational in San Marcos, he was second in the triple at 46-4 1/4.
 
Both of his winning marks on Saturday came on his third attempt. Unlike most meets in which competitors get three preliminary attempts and the top nine move onto finals for three more, everyone got four jumps on Saturday with no finals.
 
 

Daugherty continues her string of early-season success in the pole. Saturday's mark was her second 12-footer of the year and the third of her career. Last week at the Heritage Festival, she won at 12-0 ¾. She also won the Boitano Invite at 11-9 ¾. Then in Friday's Mangrum Invitational at Cal State San Marcos, she was part of a three-way tie for first at 11-3 ½.
 
This is the second time Daugherty has made the provisional list. She did it last year with her career-best vault of 12-4 on May 7 at the Linfield Open.
 
 

Archer put together back-to-back career days in the 400 dash.  He came into the weekend with a career-best of 48.88 at last May's Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships. On Friday at the Mangrum, he lowered that to 48.72.
 
Then on Saturday, Archer took off some more time, winning in 48.68. That puts him No. 3 on the GNAC list as of Saturday evening, trailing only Alaska Anchorage's Kevin Angarita (47.81) and Western Washington's Brian Le (48.35).
 
AND THAT'S NOT ALL
--Libby Michael came up with a career-best race in the women's 800 meters, finishing second in 2 minutes, 15.78 seconds. That beat her previous best of 2:18.06 from last April 1st, and put her right on the heels of winner Elle Thompson from Middlebury at the finish line (2:15.13).
-- For the second week in a row, Aniya Green ran a personal-best in the 100-meter dash, stopping the watch in 12.44 seconds for sixth place. Last week in Renton, she went 12.61. Green came into the season with a best of 12.65.
 

-- Among other PB's on Saturday was Katelyn Flolo in the women's 1500 meters. The freshman posted her first sub-5 minute time, 4:57.84. She went 5:05.78 on March 4 in Tacoma.
-- Another Falcon freshman, Marissa Crane, came closer to her goal of breaking the 58-second mark in the women's 400-meter dash. She went 58.13 for third place. Last Saturday, Crane clocked 58.57 to win at the Doris Heritage Festival. Her high school best at South Kitsap (across Puget Sound in Port Orchard) was 58.77.
-- Jeff Gordon came agonizingly close to a pair of PBs in the men's sprints – but will have the next several weeks to take another shot at both. He went 10.90 in the 100-meter dash, just one-hundredth of a second shy of his 10.89 set at the 2021 GNAC meet. Then in the 200, Gordon came across in 22.06. His best in that one is 22.02, also at the 2021 GNACs.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons have next weekend off from competition, then will split the squad for a pair of meets on Saturday, April 8. A group of sprinters and field eventers will head to Claremont, California, for the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational. Competition begins at 9:15 a.m. on the track and 10:00 a.m. in the field. Distance runners will head north to Canada for the Emilie Mondor Invitational at Simon Fraser in Burnaby, B.C. Those events start at 11:45 a.m.

 
NCAA WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD
Point Loma Collegiate Invitational
Saturday, March 25, 2023
Point Loma Nazarene Track & Field
 
Team scores – Not kept.
 
SPU EVENTS ONLY
100 – 1, Jasmyn Crawford (Whittier) 11.92.  SPU – 6, Aniya Green 12.44; 41, Maliyah Hicks 13.60.
200 – 1, Jasmyn Crawford (Whittier) 24.96.  SPU – 4, Aniya Green 25.68; 15, Hannah Chang 26.74; 32, Maliyah Hicks 27.85.
400 – 1, Madelynn Worley (Point Loma) 57.02.  SPU – 3, Marissa Crane 58.13; 20, Charisma Smith 1:02.15.
800—1, Elle Thompson (Middlebury) 2:15.13.  SPU – 2, Libby Michael 2:15.78; 9 Johanna Brown 2:20.33
1500 – 1, Aubrie Nex (Point Loma) 4:35.38.  SPU – 4, Annika Esvelt 4:43.73; 12, Matise Mulch 4:55.79; 14, Katelyn Flolo 4:57.84; 21, Maya Ewing 5:02.40
100 hurdles – 1, Joy Hano (Humboldt) 14.11.  SPU – 4, Hannah Chang 14.79
High jump – 1, Jaidyn Appel (Tuffts) 5-6 / 1.68m.  SPU – 14, Hannah Chang 4-7 / 1.40m.
Pole vault – 1, Lizzy Daugherty (SPU) 12-3 ¼ / 3.74m#.  Other SPU – 13, Charlie Hill 10-3 ½ / 3.14m.
Long jump – 1, Cady Barns (Middlesbury) 18-1 / 5.51m.  SPU – 5, Maliyah Hicks 16-6 ½ / 5.04m.
Javelin – 1, Kaylee Wright (W. Oregon) 137-2 / 41.82m.  SPU – 8, Hannah Chang 99-7 / 30.36m.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S TRACK & FIELD
Point Loma Collegiate Invitational
Saturday, March 25, 2023
Point Loma Nazarene Track & Field
 
Team scores – Not kept.
 
SPU EVENTS ONLY
100 – 1, Jackson Anderson (Williams) 10.57.  SPU – 9, Jeff Gordon 10.90; 36, Nate Thomas 11.43.
200 – 1, Luke Botsford (Tufts) 21.49.  SPU – 6, Jeff Gordon 22.06.
400 – 1, Isaiah Archer (SPU) 48.68.  Other SPU – 9, Julius Shepherd 50.84.
800—1, Nate Lentz (Williams) 1:52.93.  .  SPU – 17, Jon Owen 1:59.11; 25, Kade Franco 2:03.69; 29, Rory McClelland 2:05.24.
1500 – 1, Walter Coleman (U. San Diego) 3:59.84.  SPU – 14, Brennan LeBlanc 4:12.89; 16, Colin Boutin 4:13.17; 25, Ben Sheirbon 4:19.38; 30, Nathaniel Gale 4:26.45.
110 hurdles – 1, Jackson Anderson (Williams) 14.26.  SPU – 18, Darius Holmes 20.94.
Pole vault – 1, Sam Riley (Williams) 14-8 ¾ / 4.49m.  SPU – T3, Brad Bowman 13-9 / 4.19m; 5, Kainoa Lee 13-9 / 4.19m (Bowman gets higher spot on fewer-misses tiebreaker).
Long jump – 1, David Njeri (SPU) 22-7 ¾ / 6.90m.  Other SPU – 12 Nate Thomas 19-4 ¼ / 5.90m.
Triple jump – 1, David Njeri (SPU) 46-0 / 14.02m.  No other SPU.