TACOMA, Wash. – David Njeri went farther into the sand than anyone else – whether it was one jump or three.
 
 For Marissa Crane, it was one lap. For Matise Mulch, 12½.
 
Hannah Chang got over 10 hurdles. Kainoa Lee and Lizzy Daugherty cleared some high pole vault bars.
 
On the last Saturday of winter that was actually warm enough to feel like the first Saturday of summer, the Seattle Pacific Falcons headed into their spring break with some winning momentum -- times seven -- from the PLU Open track and field meet.
 
Crane won the 400-meter dash,  Mulch took the 5000 meters, Chang was first to the finish line in the 100-meter hurdles, and Daugherty was best in the pole vault on the women's side. Njeri was a double-winner, out-leaping everyone in the long jump and triple jump, and Kainoa Lee had the top clearance in the pole vault for the men in competition at Pacific Lutheran Track.
 
 

Daugherty cleared an outdoor personal best of 12 feet 6¼ inches to put herelf onto the NCAA provisional qualifying list. She also secured her eighth overall career victory (seven outdoors, one indoors). Her previous outdoor PB was 12-4, which she cleared twice. Daugherty came into the spring season on the heels of setting Seattle Pacific's indoor record with a mark of 12-9 ½ on Feb. 24 at the Ken Shannon Last Chance meet at Dempsey.

 

Njeri took advantage of the ideal conditions for much better marks than he was able to muster in the Ed Boitano Invitational two weeks ago during the colder and occasionally snowy weather at Puget Sound. He went 22-9 ¾ in the long jump (20-8 ½ at UPS) and 47-11 ¾ in the triple (44-3 ½ at UPS). Both are currently atop the GNAC, pending other weekend results.
 
A senior, Njeri now has won the triple jump 14 times and the long jump six times as a Falcon. He is the defending GNAC champion in both.


 

Crane, a sophomore, came up with her fastest time ever in the 400, coming across the finish line in 56.95 seconds. That was the first sub-57 of her career. It beat both her previous outdoor best of 57.58 from last May's third-place finish at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships, and her overall best of 57.23 from February's third-place performance at GNAC Indoors.
 
As of Saturday afternoon, with results from other meet still to come in, Crane finds herself atop the GNAC list. The win was Crane's second of her career.
 



Mulch also picked up her second career victory, and her first in the 5000. Racing in a lead trio alongside fellow Falcons sophomore Maya Ewing and Kya Ramirez of Saint Martin's, Mulch moved in front just beyond the halfway mark at 2600 meters. On the ensuing lap, she made a big move to open a five-second lead with 2K to go and stretched it out from there coming across in 18 minutes, 35.58 seconds. Ramirez was second at 18:43.50, and Ewing checked in at 18:53.43.

 

Chang, a sophomore, enjoyed considerable success in the 60-meter hurdles during the winter indoor season, breaking the nine-second mark for the first time and subsequently setting three more personal bests. Saturday was her first run of the year in the 100s, and she had a clean race, finishing in 15.08, four-tenths ahead of Gabriela Cintron of Saint Martin's.

 

Lee got over at 14-5 ¼ to win the men's pole vault. That was nearly a foot higher than the 13-5¾ he went two weeks ago when competition was moved indoors because of the threat of inclement weather. Lee now has two college victories.
 
AND THAT'S NOT ALL
--The Falcons made it a 1-2 finish in the women's 400 dash, with Johanna Brown coming across the finish line behind Marissa Crane with a personal-best time of 58.20. Her previous best was 58.41.
-- Brown wasn't done yet. She came through with another career best in the 200, clocking 25.92. It was her first sub-26, her previous best being 26.18.
-- Senior Aniya Green went step-for-step with Olivia Rose of Rose Athletics in the women's 100 dash. Rose hit the wire in 12.69; just ahead of Green's season-best 12.70. Green also had a season-best 25.54 in the 200 to take fourth place.
-- In her college outdoor debut, freshman Sophie Mock finished second in the women's long jump at 16-4¼. That was one of her three individual events on Saturday, as she also was fourth in the 100 hurdles and ninth in the 400 hurdles.
-- Senior Brennan LeBlanc was second in the men's 5000 in 15:34.07, leading a flock of Falcons in a 2-3-4-5-6 finish. Sophomore Isaac Venable in third and freshman Silas Demmert in fourth both had sizable personal-best times: 15:41.21 for Venable (nearly six seconds faster than his previous best of 15:47.07) and 15:45.24 for Demmert (almost five seconds better than his 15:50.04 from two weeks ago).
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons head to Southern California for a pair of meets next week. On Friday, they'll be in San Marcos at the Mangrum Invitational. Then on Saturday, it's down to San Diego for the PLNU Invitational at Point Loma Nazarene.


NCAA WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD
PLU Open
Saturday, March 16, 2024
Pacific Lutheran Track  / Tacoma, Wash.
 
Team scores – Not kept.
 
SPU EVENTS ONLY
100 – 1, Olivia Rose (Rose Athletics) 12.69.  SPU – 2, Aniya Green 12.70; 7, Maliya Hicks 13.54.
200 – 12, Elise Hopper (CWU) 24.88.  SPU – 4, Aniya Green 25.54; 6, Johanna Brown 25.92; 13, Maliyah Hicks 27.91; 16, Anika Segall 28.59.
400 – 1, Marissa Crane (SPU) 56.95.  Other SPU – 2, Johanna Brown 58.20; 5, Charisma Smith 1:01.76; 7, Anika Segall 1:04.52.
5000 – 1, Matise Mulch 18:35.58.  Other SPU – 3, Maya Ewing 18:53.43.
100 hurdles – 1, Hannah Chang (SPU) 15.08.  Other SPU – 7, Sophie Mock 17.85.
400 hurdles – 1, Ellie DeGroot (CWU) 1:01.03.  SPU – 4, Sophie Mock 1:09.88.
4x100 relay – 1, Central Washington 47.65.  SPU – DQ, out of zone.
High jump – 1, Corona Parker (Evergreen St.) 5-3 / 1.60m.  SPU – 4, Paige Kessler 4-9 ¾ / 1.47m.
Pole vault – 1, Lizzy Daugherty (SPU) 12-6 ¼ / 3.82m#.  Other SPU – Charlie Hill and Emily Thomason no height.
Long jump – 1, Olivia Rose (Rose Athletics) 17-2 / 5.23m.  SPU – 2, Sophie Mock 16-4 ¼ / 4.98m; 4, Hannah Chang 15-8 ½ / 4.78m; 5, Maliyah Hicks 15-7 ¾ / 4.77m; 6, Paige Kessler 15-5 ½ / 4.71m.
Javelin – 1, Halsie Keltner (Northwest U) 130-3 / 39.77m.  SPU – 4, Hannah Chang 88-6 / 26.97m.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S TRACK & FIELD
PLU Open
Saturday, March 16, 2024
Pacific Lutheran Track / Tacoma, Wash.
 
Team scores – Not kept.
 
100 – 1, Keola Sanchez (PLU) 10.78.  SPU – 24, Mikel Saxon 12.11.
400 – 1, Braxton Claridy (Evergreen St. 49.93.  SPU – 3, Evan Carpenter 51.54.
800 – 1, Micah Murphy (Northwest U) 1:55.46.  SPU – 6, Jonathan Lieb 2:01.12.
1500 – 1, Micah Murphy (Northwest U) 3:56.70.  SPU – 24, Ben Sheirbon 4:35.43.
5000 – 1, Owen Ladinig (PLU) 13:05.43.  SPU – 2, Brennan LeBlanc 15:34.06; 3, Isaac Venable 15:41.31; 4, Silas Demmert 15:45.24; 5, Nathaniel Gale 16:11.56; 6, Gabe Endresen 16:17.09.
4x400 relay – 1, Pacific Lutheran 3:23.10.  SPU – 2, Seattle Pacific (Evan Carpenter, Ethan Erickson, Jonathan Lieb, Kade Franco) 3:40.68.
Pole vault – 1, Kainoa Lee (SPU) 14-5 ¼ / 4.40m.  Other SPU – 5, Mikel Saxon 12-1 ½ / 3.70m.
Long jump – 1, David Njeri 22-9 ¾ / 6.95m.  Other SPU – 13, Brady Boun (SPU) 13-2 ¼ / 4.02m.
Triple jump – 1, David Njeri (SPU) 47-11 ¾ / 14.62m.  No other SPU.


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