TACOMA, Wash. – Maya Ewing just wanted to get a feel for doing the steeplechase again..
 
That is had a fast feel … a very fast feel … a national-leading and NCAA provisional-qualifying fast feel … even a magical feel ... was a welcome bonus.
 
The Seattle Pacific junior ran by herself up front for nearly all of the 3000 meters on Saturday and came across the finish line in 10 minute, 48.00 seconds at the PLU Open track and field meet.
 
 

Ewing's time on the Pacific Lutheran University track was her first-ever NCAA provisional qualifier. It obliterated her previous best of 11:19.21 set during her freshman season in 2023, and was way better than her 2024 season best of 11:23.39.
 
As of Saturday evening, it also was the leading time in NCAA Division II, although with numerous other meets taking place around the country this weekend, that status potentially could change once those results are entered in the national database.
 
Heading into the weekend, no one had broken the 11-minute mark. There now are two sub-11s, with Ewing on top and Cal Poly Pomona's Miranda Palacios in No. 2 at 10:51.31
 
"I felt really good, and it was like, exciting," said Ewing, who is continuing a breakout junior year that already includes the Great Northwest Athletic Conference indoor title in the 5000 meters and a fourth-place finish at the GNAC cross country meet last fall. "It felt good to go out there and have a good time and be excited for the rest of the meet. I just really felt it right away.
 
"It's just been like the last couple years just running it – today, it felt like it was there. I feel the magic."
 
The steeple can be a grueling event for its 7½ laps. That said, Ewing was consistent on the middle laps with splits of 87, 88, 88 and 88 seconds. Then she split an 86 on the sixth lap and 83 on the last one.
 
Falcons assistant coach / distance coach Eric Hansen, who has considerable experience coaching the event from his days at Wayne State in Michigan, said Ewing's first-steeple-of-the-season performance on Saturday topped that of any of his previous athletes.
 
 

"We never expect anything huge out of this first one. It's just getting familiar with it and the type of discomfort that it brings," he said. "So for her to open with a 10:48 – I've never had an athlete open that fast and look that good, especially running by herself up front the whole way.
 
"She'll get more opportunities to run it the next several weeks. We'll see what she can do now that we have the first one out of the way and hopefully get some good competition a few weeks down the road," Hansen added.
 
BELL WINS OUTDOOR HURDLES DEBUT
Falcons freshman Andrew Bell won his first college indoor hurdles race back in December, and on Saturday was first across the finish line in his inaugural outdoor hurdles event.
 
 

Bell was in front right from the start of the 110 meters and hit the wire in 14.61 seconds.
 
It was his first outdoor race of doing the college-height 42-inch hurdles (high school is 39 inches). He showed his skillset at that height during the winter indoor season when he broke the SPU school record six times and ultimately won the GNAC championship. But those races are five hurdles. Outdoors, it's 10.
 
"It was kind of nice," Bell said of his performance. "The height difference made it a little harder at the end of the race. But other than that, it was pretty good. The time was all right because it's faster than what I opened with my senior year of high school.
 
"But I know that if my race was a little cleaner, it would be a lot faster – at least 14.4 at the slowest," Bell added. "It's all right for an opener, but I wish I did better."
 
Bell ran the 400s later in the afternoon, finishing fifth in 59.32.

AND THAT'S NOT ALL
-- Along with Ewing and Bell being the overall winners in their events, the Falcons had nine heat winners – including a pair of freshmen who did it twice: Evey Rowland in the women's 100- and 200-meter dashes, and Linnea Naone in the women's 100 and 400 hurdles.
-- Others were Ella Milanovich in the women's mile, Robert Joshua and Tarelle Hunter in their respective heats of the men's 100 dash, Jada Sarrys in the women's 200, and Ethan Erickson in the men's 800.
-- Joshua's time in the 100 was 10.96. The Falcons did not have a sub-11 in that race last season. (The fastest was 11.41.) He also went 21.96 in the 200. Last season's fastest was 23.22.
-- SPU's women put together a 2-3-4-5-6 finish in the 1500. Sophomore Anna Prussian was at the front of that pack in 4:51.78, followed by junior Katelyn Flolo, senior Nicki Yorges, freshman Alexa Gossett, and junior Matise Mulch. Milanovich finished ninth overall.
-- Lizzy Daugherty, who finished her outdoor eligibility last year and just wrapped her final indoor season in February, competed unattached and won the women's pole vault at 11 feet, 11¾ inches.
 
UP NEXT
Senior Annika Esvelt heads to Indianapolis for the NCAA indoor nationals this coming Thursday through Saturday, March 13-15. She's the No. 4 seed in the 5000 meters, set for Thursday at 3:15 p.m. Pacific time, and is No. 9 in the 3000, which goes at 1:40 p.m. on Saturday.
 
The rest of the Falcons will have the week off from competition. They'll return to action on Friday-Saturday, March 21-22, at the Oregon Preview in Eugene.

NCAA WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD
PLU Open
Saturday, March 8, 2025
Pacific Lutheran Track / Tacoma, Wash.
 
Team scores – Not kept.
 
SPU EVENTS ONLY
100 – 1, Kyrstin Wilson (UPS) 17.00.  SPU – 10, Evey Rowland 12.78.
200 – 1, Kennedy Cook (WWU) 24.33.  SPU – 6, Johanna Brown 25.72; 7, Evey Rowland 25.86; 8, Jada Sarrys 25.95; 13, Sophie Hanay 26.49
400 – 1, Bec Bennett (WWU) 54.54.  SPU – 3, Jada Sarrys 58.52; 4, Johanna Brown 59.15; 5, Sophie Hanay 1:01.66.
800 – 1, Erin Schmidlin (UPS) 2:19.63.  SPU – 3, Lucia Templeton 2:25.57.
1500 – 1, Ashley Reeck (WWU) 4:44.72.  SPU – 2, Anna Prussian 4:51.78; 3, Katelyn Flolo 4:52.88; 4, Nicki Yorges 4:56.16; 5, Alexa Gosset 4:57.08; 6, Matise Mulch 5:02.40; 9, Ella Milanovich 5:08.12; 18, Nicole Pierce 5:23.36.
100 hurdles – 1, Liv Heite (UAA) 14.30.  SPU – 5, Hannah Chang 15.39; 11, Linnea Naone 16.95; 12, Sophie Mock 17.33.
400 hurdles – 1, Ari Nguyen (WWU) 1:04.50.  SPU – 3, Hannah Chang 1:08.41; 4, Linnea Naone 1:11.87.
3000 steeplechase – 1, Maya Ewing (SPU) 10:48.00#.  No other SPU.
4x100 relay – 1, Western Washington 47.72.  SPU – 2, Seattle Pacific (Sophie Hanay, Johanna Brown, Hannah Chang, Jada Sarrys) 48.81.
Pole vault – 1, Lizzy Daugherty (Unattached) 11-11 ¾ / 3.65m.  SPU – 4, Kaitlyn Askay 10-6 / 3.20m.
# NCAA provisional qualifying.

 
NCAA MEN'S TRACK & FIELD
PLU Open
Saturday, March 8, 2025
Pacific Lutheran Track / Tacoma, Wash.
 
Team scores – Not kept.
 
SPU EVENTS ONLY
100 – 1, Samuel Gray (Saint Martin's) 10.73.  SPU – 6, Robert Joshua 10.96; 14, Tarelle Hunter 11.23.
200 – 1, Ryan Greenwalt (WWU) 21.47.  SPU – 8, Robert Joshua 21.96.
400 – 1, Brian Le (WWU) 48.39.  SPU – 14, Noah Bouknight 56.07.
800 – 1, Kai Sorensen (PLU) 1:56.15.  SPU – 4, Nathan Korth 1:57.94; 8, Jonathan Lieb 2:00.94; 10, Ethan Erickson 2:01.97.
1500 – 1, Josiah Jaquith (Northwest U) 4:02.51.  SPU – 10, Isaac Venable 4:12.94; 15, Nathaniel Gale 4:21.22; 22, Gabe Endresen 4:42.84.
110 hurdles – 1, Andrew Bell 14.61.  No other SPU.
400 hurdles – 1, Maurice Woodring (WWU) 52.78.  SPU – 5, Andrew Bell 59.32.
3000 steeplechase – 1, Josh Beam (Harrier TC) 9:13.76.  SPU – Silas Demmert DNF.
Pole vault – 1, Ryan Doidge (Saint Martin's) 14-5 ¼ / 4.40m.  SPU – 3, Mikel Saxon 11-5 ¼ / 4.10m.
 

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