SPOKANE, Wash. – So much for busting some rust.
 
A quartet Seattle Pacific track and field athletes did much more than that in Saturday's indoor season opener.
 
They went and busted the school record book instead.
 
Hannah Chang rewrote the standard in the women's 60-meter hurdles, freshman Andrew Bell did likewise in the men's 60 hurdles, Lizzy Daugherty topped her own mark in the women's pole vault, and fellow freshman Justin Brooks finished the day with a new standard in the men's 400 meter dash, all at the Spokane Invitational.
 
 

"You try to go into it thinking we're just going to work on our competitive muscles more than personal PRs," head coach Karl Lerum said. "For the most part, we did that. But there were some real standout performances. It's exciting to think where these kids are going to be in another couple months."
 
 

Chang, a junior who won the Great Northwest Athletic Conference outdoor 100-meter hurdles title las May, clocked 8.55 for second place in the finals on the straightaway inside The Podium. The old mark of 8.61 was set by Maliea Luquin on Feb. 27, 2016. That put her onto the NCAA Division II provisional qualifying list.
 
She wound up second overall, behind only winner Amanda Thrue of Grand Canyon in 8.50. Chang clocked 8.67 in the prelims to qualify for the finals.

Lerum said he doesn't like to predict things like PBs, "but I definitely can tell you that Hannah has had some great practices.".
 
 

Senior pole vaulter Daugherty cleared 12 feet, 10 inches in the women's invitational section of the meet. That was half an inch higher than her own record of 12-9 1/2 set this past Feb. 23 and made her an NCAA provisional qualifier. She won last year's GNAC outdoor championship.
 
 

Fellow senior Emily Thomason also was an NCAA provisional qualifier as she won the collegiate women's pole vault at 12-4.
 
"Lizzy being able to get at PR as a senior is pretty fantastic," Lerum said. "Emily had a really good day and worked through a whole bunch of bars and was able to take shots at a PR height." (Thomason's best is 12-6¼..
 
 

Bell, a freshman from Spanaway Lake south of Tacoma, made a record-setting debut. His first college race was his preliminary heat in the men's 60 hurdles, and he stopped the watch in 8.31 seconds. That beat the 8.33 posted by David Njeri on Feb 21, 2020. Bell was 10^th overall.
 
Brooks, from nearby SeaTac, clocked 48.58 seconds for his two laps around the banked 200-meter oval in the men's 400. That was two-tenths of a second faster than Isaiah Archer ran on that very same track on Feb. 20, 2023 at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships. Brooks wound up in fifth place.
 
"We never got to see Andrew and Justn before (at the college level), so that was a pretty exciting surprise," Lerum said. "You see them training, and obviously, they're talented kids. For them to come and do that in their first collegiate meet after training all these months is pretty impressive."
 
 

FIRST TIME IN FIRST PLACE
Maya Ewing, a junior coming off her best-ever cross country season, was first across the line in the women's 5000 meters, going the distance in 18 minutes, 10.41 seconds.
 
Along with it being Ewing's first collegiate victory, it was her first indoor 5K. Her previous high finish was a pair of second places, both of those coming outdoors (once in a 3000, once in the 5000).
 
AND THAT'S NOT ALL
-- Fellow junior Matise Mulch was third in Saturday's 5K with an indoor PB of 18:33.53 (previous 18:36.06).
 

-- In that same race, sophomore Anna Prussian made her official track debut by placing fifth in 19:17.47. Prussian ran cross country last year as a freshman, but missed both indoor and outdoor track with an injury. She also ran cross country this fall, scoring for the Falcons at both GNACs and NCAA West Regionals.
-- Freshman Robert Joshua was just shy of the men's 60-meter dash school record with his time of 7.05. The time to beat is 7.00 by David Njeri in 2022. He also is within reach of the 200 record, clocking 22.71. Jeff Gordon went 22.34 in 2022.
-- After she hurdled, Hannah Chang set a PB of 26.21 in the 200 dash (previous 27.11).
-- Senior Johanna Brown also came up with a PB of 26.12 (26.97).
-- Junior Maliyah Hicks went an indoor-best 15-10½ in the long jump (15-5½).
-- A pair of Falcon female freshmen wound up with toip-3 finishes: Kaitlyn Askay in the collegiate division of the pole vault (11-4¼, giving her a tie for that spot) and Lucia Templeton in the 800 (2:28.32).
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons are now off through the holidays. They will return to training in early January and return to competition on Friday, Jan. 17 at the UW Indoor Preview. Competition at Dempsey Indoor on the Washington campus begins at noon, both on the track and in the field.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD
Spokane Invitational
Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024
The Podium / Spokane, Wash.
 
Team scores – Not kept.
 
SPU EVENTS ONLY
60-meter dash – 1, E'lexa Hollis (CWU) 7.38.  SPU – 27, Sarah Bailey 8.15; 39, Maliyah Hicks 8.71.
200 – 1, Danielle Hunter (UW) 24.23.  SPU – 13, Jada Sarrys 25.96; 14, Johanna Brown 26.12; 16, Hannah Chang 26.21; 18, Evey Rowland 26.52; 23, Sarah Bailey 26.97; 28, Linnea Naone 28.20; 34, Maliyah Hicks 28.58
400 – 1, Bec Bennett (WWU) 54.73.  SPU – 9, Johanna Brown 59.75; 10, Jada Sarrys 1:00.28; 14, Evey Rowland 1:02.69.
800 – 1, Taylor Nichols (Portland St.) 2:24.02.  SPU – 3, Lucia Templeton 2:28.32; 9, Ella Milanovich 2:38.17.
Mile – 1, Riley Pyeatt (WSU) 5:07.08.  SPU – 10, Ella Milanovich 5:38.69; 14, Hannah Christianson 6:11.89.
5000 – 1, Maya Ewing (SPU) 18:10.41.  Other SPU – 3, Matise Mulch 18:33.53; 5, Anna Prussian 19:17.47; 6, Nicole Pierce 19:18.34; 7, Katelyn Flolo 19:25.00; 8, Alexa Gossett 19:28.38.
60 hurdles – 1, Amanda Thrue (Grand Canyon) 8.50.  SPU – 2, Hannah Chang 8.55# (school record, breaks old record of 8.61 set by Maliea Luquin on Feb. 27, 2016).  Preliminaries – 2, Chang 8.67.
4x400 relay – 1, Western Washington 3:48.62.  SPU – 6, Seattle Pacific (Jada Sarrys, Johanna Brown, Sarah Bailey, Lucia Templeton) 4:07.17.
High jump – 1, Kora Cook (WWU) 5-9 ¼ / 1.76m.  SPU – 12, Paige Kessler 4-11½  1.51m.
Pole vault (Collegiate Division) – 1, Emily Thomason (SPU) 12-4 / 3.76m#.  Other SPU – 3, Kaitlyn Askay 11-4¼ / 3.46m.
Pole vault (Invitational) – 1, Tatum Moku (WSU) 14-2 / 4.32m.  SPU – 5, Lizzy Daugherty 12-10 / 3.91 (school record, breaks old record of 12-9½ / 3.90m set by Daugherty on Feb. 23, 2024). No other SPU.
Long jump – 1, Caitlin Simmons (E. Washington) 20-1 / 6.12m.  SPU – 17, Hannah Chang 16-3¼ / 4.96m.; 24, Maliyah Hicks 15-10½ / 4.84m; 25, Sophie Mock 15-10¼ / 4.83m.

# NCAA provisional qualifying
 
 
NCAA MEN'S TRACK & FIELD
Spokane Invitational
Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024
The Podium / Spokane, Wash.
 
Team scores – Not kept.
 
SPU EVENTS ONLY
60-meter dash – 1, Mason Lawyer (WSU) 6.57.  SPU – 20, Robert Joshua 7.05; 34, Tarelle Hunter 7.15.
200 – 1, Miguel Rosario (Grand Canyon) 20.97.  SPU – 19, Robert Joshua 22.71; 23, Tarelle Hunter 23.10.
400 – 1, Joshua Gittens (Grand Canyon) 47.41.  SPU – 5, Justin Brooks 48.58 (school record, breaks old record of 48.78 set by Isaiah Archer on Feb. 20, 2023)
800 – 1, Keeton Sanchez (WOU) 1:52.17.  SPU – 12, Nathan Korth 2:03.35; 14, Ethan Erickson 2:05.51; 15, Noah Bouknight 2:07.57.
Mile – 1, Jacob Alfonso (Gonzaga) 4:08.77.  SPU – 21, Nathan Korth 4:36.95; 22, Jonathan Lieb 4:39.36; 27, Gabe Endresen 5:06.71.
5000 – 1, Bryce Cerkoniak (Unattached) 14:18.34.  SPU – 14, Isaac Venable 15:35.08; 15, Nathaniel Gale 16:08.42.
60 hurdles – 1, John Parades (WSU) 7.71.  SPU – 10, Andrew Bell 8.31 (school record, breaks old record of 8.33 by David Njeri on Feb. 21, 2020)..
4x400 relay – 1, Grand Canyon 3:12.05.  SPU – 8, Seattle Pacific (Justin Brooks, Robert Joshua, Tarelle Hunter, Jonathan Lieb) 3:30.96.
Pole vault (Collegiate Division) – 1, Van Vinson (Eastern Oregon) 14-6¼ / 4.43m.  SPU – 8, Mikel Saxon 13-6½ / 4.13m.
 

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