THE SCHEDULE                 Seattle Pacific at NCAA Division II Championships
                                     Thursday-Saturday, May 22-24, 2025
         Neta & Eddie DeRose ThunderBowl / Pueblo, Colo.
         THURSDAY: Field events 10:05 a.m.     Track events 3:40 p.m.
         SPU:  Women's 3000 steeple prelims  5:40 p.m.  
                  Women's 10,000   7:10 p.m.
         FRIDAY: Field events 1:00 p.m.   Track events, 4:30 p.m.
         SPU: Women's 3000 steeple finals, 6:15 p.m.
         SATURDAY: Field events, 10:00 a.m.   Track events, 4:10 p.m.
         SPU: Women's 5000, 7:05 p.m.
         All times Pacific
         Live Webcasts:   Thursday     Friday     Saturday
                                     Live results

 
SEATTLE – Annika Esvelt already knows a thing or two – or six – about racing at nationals.
 
Maya Ewing is about to find out … for the first time.
 
The two Seattle Pacific distance standouts will have their own places on the starting line this week when they head to the NCAA Division II Track & Field Championships in Pueblo, Colorado.
 
Esvelt, in her fifth year, will be at her seventh NCAA meet. This is her third for outdoor track, and her schedule will be the same as it has been for the other two: the 10,000 meters on Thursday and the 5000 on Saturday. Both races have a 7:05 p.m. Pacific starting time at the Neta & Eddie DeRose ThunderBowl, some 4,700 feet above sea level (4,692 feet, to be precise).
 
Ewing, a junior, will race in the 3000-meter steeplechase to cap what has been a breakout year across all three running seasons. The preliminaries are on Thursday at 5:40 p.m. Pacific time. The top 12 will return on Friday for the finals at 6:15 p.m. Pacific.
 
Last year in Emporia, Kansas, Esvelt snared a silver medal in the 10,000 and was seventh in the 5000. During her sophomore year in 2024, she was fourth in the 10 and 10th in the 5.
 
KEEPING TRACK OF THE ACTION
Live coverage of the meet will be available all week. The appropriate video links can be found at the top of this story. Note that each of the three days has its own link. The live results link also is at the top of this story. That same link will work for all three days.
 
The Webcast will include some coverage of field events, but in the past, a good portion of it has focused on track events.
 
AT LEAST IT'S WARM SOMEWHERE
Seattle hasn't had much warm weather at all this spring. But it actually does get warm elsewhere, and that certainly will be the case in Pueblo this week.
 
On Thursday, the high is expected to reach 83 before cooling off considerably in the early evening. Winds might be a factor, with gusts up to 25.
 
Friday will be even hotter with highs into the low 90s, cooling toward 60 as the evening goes on. Sustained winds won't amount to much, but there could be some gusts into the low 20s.
 
It cools a bit on Saturday, with highs around 85. Again, wind gusts could come into play, up to 25 miles per hour.
 
SCOUTING THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Annika Esvelt won't need an introduction to many of the primary contenders in either Thursday's 10,000 or Saturday's 5000. She has raced against many of them on multiple occasions in cross country and track.
 
 

Esvelt is the No. 3 seed for the 10K with the personal-best 33:34.30 that she ran on April 16 at the Bryan Clay Invitational. The two ahead of her are Adams State senior Brianna Robles in the No. 1 spot at 32:50.18 and UC Colorado Springs senior Anna Fauske in the No. 2 position at 33:22.66. Fauske was fourth in the NCAA indoor 5K and fifth in the 3K (Esvelt was seventh in both races) and was ninth at NCAA cross country (Esvelt was fourth).
 
Robles and Esvelt have shared the same track six times over the years. The most recent of those was last year's NCAA 10,000 when Esvelt finished ahead of her for the first time, taking second place while Robles was third.
 
The X-factor in the 10K is Jenna Ramsey-Rutledge of Colorado Mines. She comes in as the No. 15 seed at 34:37.64. But she has gone much faster than that, clocking 32:31.16 on March 29 at The TEN, an elite-level distance meet in San Juan Capistrano, California. The meet had just three college events (800, 1500, and 10,000) so didn't count for NCAA qualifying purposes, meaning Ramsey-Rutledge had to run one more 10K (she did on May 10 at Azusa Pacific). But that doesn't take away from the fact that she did run that fast, so certainly looms as a title contender.
 
At NCAA cross country last fall, Ramsey-Rutledge and Esvelt came sprint toward the finish line side-by-side, battling for third place. Ramsey-Rutledge finished half a second ahead, 20:34.0 to 20:34.5.
 
Esvelt is the No. 5 seed in the 5000 at 15:56.94 – the first sub-16 of her career, which she ran on April 4 at the Stanford Invitational. It was the first sub-16 of the season in Division II, Since then, half a dozen more have broken that mark, led by top-seeded Klaudia O'Malley of Grand Valley State at 15:42.43. Ramsey-Rutledge is close behind at 15:48.74. There's also a trio from Adams State from Alamosa, Colorado, so they are well-acquainted with running at altitude: No. 3 seed Ava O'Connor (15:49.65), No. 4 seed Robles (15:54.76), and No. 7 Tristian Spence (15:58.75).
 
 

Maya Ewing will cap her breakout year by running in the 3000-meter steeplechase. A junior, she is the No. 12 seed with her school-record time of 10:27.61, which she ran on April 16 at the Bryan Clay Invitational.
 
Ewing started the year with a 10:48.00 to get onto the qualifying list, lowered it to 10:35.63 a month later – breaking the school record for the first time – then broke it again with her performance at the Clay.
 
The steeple has preliminaries and finals. The top four in each of the two prelim heats advance to Friday's finals. Also advancing will be the next four fastest overall times, regardless of heat.
 
The overwhelming favorite is Adams State's O'Connor at 9:46.22. That is the only sub-10 and is nearly 20 seconds ahead of No. 2 seed Eliette Chaput from West Texas A&M (10:06.00).
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- The Falcons have competitors in the NCAA women's meet for the 42nd time in 43 years. The only miss was in 2023.
-- In the previous 41 meets when the have had competitors, SPU athletes have had top-8 finishes and scored team points in 39 of them.
-- Last year, Annika Esvelt and Hannah Chang wore the maroon in Emporia, Kansas. Esvelt was 2nd in the 10,000 and 7th in the 5000. Chang was 16th in the 100 hurdles.
-- Esvelt's two finishes netted 10 team points. That made Seattle Pacific one of six schools to tie for 23rd place in the standings. A total of 60 teams scored at least one point.
-- Thursday's 10,000 will be the seventh time Esvelt has run that distance for the Falcons and her second time this season. The 5000 will be her 20th^, overall, her 12th outdoors and her third this season.
-- Maya Ewing will run her 12th steeplechase and her fourth this season.

 
Year – 5th year.
Hometown – Spokane, Wash. (West Valley-Spokane HS).
Major – Applied Human Biology (with a minor in Exercise Science)..
How she made the NCAAs – On April 4 at the Stanford Invitational, ran her first-ever sub-16 in the 5000 meters, stopping the watch at 15 minutes, 56.94 seconds. Just 12 days later on April 16 at the Bryan Clay Invitational, ran a best-ever 33:34.30 in the 10,000 meters.
Previous national appearances – Outdoor track: 2 (2nd in 10,000 in 2024 in 34:18.07; 7th in 5000 in 2024 in 16:54.06; 4th 10,000 in 2022 in 33:51.65; 10th 5000 in 2022 in 16:40.70.   Indoor track: 3 (7th in 5000 in 2025 in 16:20.55; 7th in 3000 in 2025 in 9:28.94.; 10th 5000 in 2024 in 16:29.98; 8h 5000 in 2022 in 16:31.12.  Cross country: 1 (4th in 2025 in 20:34.5).
What else she has done – Won her second straight GNAC outdoor 5000 meters title on May 10 in a meet-record time of 16:32.51. That broke the mark of 16:35.10 set by Alaska Anchorage's Caroline Kurgat in 2019;; Kurgat would go on to set the overall NCAA record of 14:40.45 later that same season. … Also placed 3rd in the 1500 at GNAC.
Storylines – Esvelt hadn't even planned to compete this year, even though she had eligibility remaining in all three running seasons. But last spring, she decided to utilize that eligibility and has been rewarded for it. In the fall, she qualified for the NCAA cross country meet for the first time and finished fourth after challenging for the lead much of the way. …At her first indoor meet of the year – the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener in Boston on Dec. 7 – she broke the school indoor record in the 5000 with a time of 16:09.93. … Won the GNAC indoor mile and 3000 meter titles. She had not run the mile during the regular season, so was placed into the slow heat, along with others who did not have an entry time. Running alone way out in front, she clocked 4:51.18. The top time in the higher-seeded heat was 5:06.32. … In last year's NCAA outdoor 10K, it came down to the bell lap between Esvelt and Florence Uwajaneza of West Texas A&M. Everyone knew Uwajaneza had an extra gear, and she kicked it in up the backstretch to pull away and win in 34:14.47. Esvelt was second in 34:18.07.
 
   
Year – Junior.
Hometown – Lynden, Wash. (Lynden Christian HS).
Major – Nursing.
How she made the NCAAs – Broke her own school record with a time of 10:27.61 on April 16 at the Bryan Clay Invitational.
Previous national appearances – None.
What else she has done – Placed 2nd in the steeplechase at the GNAC Championships in 10:34.06. Came back the next day to take 2nd in the 5000 meters behind teammate Annika Esvelt. Ewing stopped the watch in 16:55.22, the first sub-17 of her career.
Storylines – This has been a breakout year for Ewing across all three seasons. … In the fall, finished a best-ever 4th at the GNAC cross country meet, and then was a best-ever 22nd at NCAA West Regionals to earn All-Region honors. … In the winter, won the GNAC indoor 5000 meters in 17:24.40, then came back the next day to place 5th in the 3000. … In her first steeplechase this spring, ran a 10:48.00 at the PLU Open on March 8. That was an early-season national-leading time, and it stayed atop the list through most of March. … Broke the school record with a 10:35.63 at the Stanford Invitational on April 4, but still wanted to get below 10:30 to ensure a trip to NCAAs. Accomplished that on April 16 with her 10:27.61. … Among all the distance events both indoors and outdoors, Ewing will be the top GNAC returner for the 2025-26 calendar, as a large number of top-quality runners will be graduating.

IT HAS BEEN AWHILE IN STEEPLE
Getting to the national meet in any event is a tall order. That being said, the Falcons have had NCAA participants in 17 of the 21 events over the years. That includes every running event except the 400 hurdles (Jalen Tims qualified in 2016, but was not able to race because of an injury) and every field event except the shot put, discus, and hammer.
 
In the 3000-meter steeplechase, Maya Ewing will be just the fourth SPU competitor to make it to the starting line.
 
The last time the Falcons had an NCAA steeplechaser was in 2008 – and they had two that year. Suzie Strickler made the podium and All-American with a seventh-place finish in 10 minutes, 45.54 seconds. Karin Rohde was in the prelims and wound up 13th in 11:01.17. In fact, that was her third straight year of making it. She was 13th in 2007 and eighth in 2006.
 
SPU's only other national steepler was Brandi McCoy (12th in 2006).
 
METERS OR MILES – IT'S A LOT
Given her love for running as far as possible, it's no surprise that Annika Esvelt has logged her share of meters in five years at Seattle Pacific.
 
Even so, adding them all up still produces a mind-boggling, eye-popping number: 341,628 meters. That converts to 212.278 miles – and that's just for her 82 races. Her training miles would be way beyond that.
 
It breaks down like this: 
-- 20 times in the 5000 (indoor and outdoor) for 100,000 meters.
-- 6 times in the 10,000 for 60,000.
-- 22 times in the outdoor 1500 for 33,000.
-- 10 times in the indoor 3000 for 30,000.
-- 3 times in the indoor mile for 4.828.
-- 1 time in the 800 for 800.
 
On the track, that adds up to 228,628 meters / 142.06 miles. And she'll tack on another 15,000 meters / 9.3 miles this weekend in Colorado.
 
For cross country
-- 15 races at 6000 meters for 90,000.
-- 3 races at 5000 meters for 15,000
-- 2 races at 4000 meters for 8000.
 
That adds up to 113,000 meters / 70.21 miles.
 
AROUND THE GNAC
The Great Northwest Athletic Conference has 21 individual qualifiers for this week's meet, plus the 4-by-100 women's relay from Central Washington.
 
Of the 21 events on the schedule, the GNAC is represented in 19 of them on either the men's or the women's side (and has both men and women in several events). The only events without a conference competitor on either side is the 4-by-400 relay and the multis (men's decathlon / women's heptathlon).
 
The highest seed is Central Washington's Emy Ntekpere, who is No. 1 in the triple jump. (She won the indoor triple jump in March.) She also is No. 3 in the high jump, and Annika Esvelt is No. 3 in the women's 10,000.
 
For the men, Simon Fraser's Jarrett Chong is seeded No. 2 in the javelin, and Alaska Anchorage's Joshua Caleb is No. 3 in the 100-meter dash.
 
UP NEXT
That's it for this year. The Falcons will return to action when the cross country season starts in September. That scheduled will be finalized and announced later this summer.


SPU SOCIAL 

• Twitter - @SPUSports & @SPUXCTF
• Instagram - @SPUSports & @spuxctf
• Facebook - /SPUSports

Seattle's only NCAA Division II Scholarship Program | #GoFalcons