THE SCHEDULE:
Saturday, April 6    Seattle Pacific at JD Shotwell Invitational
                                   Baker Stadium at Univ. of Puget Sound / Tacoma, Wash.
                                   Field events10 a.m., running events 11 a.m.
                                   Live results        No live Webcast

                                                                                 
        Weekly release, with complete updated lists (PDF)
 
SEATTLE – The weather might be wetter and cooler this week. But on the track and in the field, the Seattle Pacific Falcons will be looking to keep up some of their hot early-season performances.
 
Coming off of some outstanding efforts in warm, sunny conditions last Saturday in Seattle, the Falcons head south to Tacoma for the JD Shotwell Invitational. Competition at Baker Stadium on the University of Puget Sound campus begins with the first field event at 10 a.m., and the first running event at 11 a.m. The last race of the day is set for 4:05 p.m.
 
In addition to individual events, the Shotwell also has team scoring. The SPU women won the 2011 title among 12 teams with 210.5 points. The men were fifth among 12 teams with 65 points. Seattle Pacific did not compete at last year's meet.
 
This will be the last local meet for the Falcons until May 4 when they head to the new track at the University of Washington for the Ken Foreman / Ken Shannon Invitational.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
For those not able to get to Tacoma, live results will be available. The appropriate link can be found at the top of this story. There is no live Webcast.
 




CALL HIM MR. RECORD BOOK
Will Harrison was at it again last Saturday. For the fourth time in 2013, the Falcon senior rewrote a school record. This time, it was in the 10,000 meters at the Club Northwest Spring Break Open. Harrison (Tucson, Ariz.) finished 25 laps around the track at West Seattle Stadium in 31 minutes, 17.10 seconds.
 
Harrison's time bettered the old record of 31:22.25 set in 2005 by Tim LeCount. It also shattered Harrison's previous personal-best of 33:03.47, set in 2010 during his freshman season. In the 60-plus year history of the program, Harrison is just the third Falcon to run in the 31s for a 10K.
 
He also set three indoor records during the winter – once in the 5,000 meters, and twice in the 3,000.
 
SCOUTING THE JD SHOTWELL INVITATIONAL
It will be a busy day for the Falcons on an individual basis, as several of them are entered in and likely will compete in more than one event.
 
Among the busiest figure to be senior Nate Johnson and sophomore Maliea Luquin. Johnson (Boise, Idaho) is on the list for six events; the 200 meters, 110 hurdles, pole vault, long jump, shot put, and javelin. He indicated that his intent is to do all six as long as there are no serious overlaps in the schedule.
 
Luquin (Portland, Ore.), coming off three career-bests from last weekend, is down for the 100 and 400 hurdles, the high jump, shot put, and javelin. She also is listed as an alternate for the 4x400 relay.
 
Senior Katy Gross (Everett, Wash. / Cascade HS) and Ali Worthen, with an eye toward next week's heptathlon at the MONDO Mid-Major Challenge in Sacramento, are penciled in for three and four events, respectively. Gross will go in the 100-meter dash, the shot put and javelin. Worthen is in all those same three, plus the 100 hurdles. She went 14.47 in the hurdles last week in West Seattle, putting her just seven-hundredths of a second away from the NCAA provisional qualifying standard.
 
Tasia Baldwin's three individual events include the long jump, in which she went a season-best 17-11 ¼ at the Spring Break Open, just 3 ¼ inches away ffrom her PR of 18-2 ½.
 
Senior Trinna Miranda (Tigard, Ore.) is in the long jump and triple jump, hoping to replicate her victories in those two events that she recorded on March 2 in the UPS Outdoor Preview. She went 16-11 ½ in the long and 35-3 ¾ in the triple that day. Her mark in the long in still a season best; she went four inches farther in the triple two weeks later at the Oregon Preview.
 
Will Harrison (Tucson, Ariz.), coming off his school-record performance in the 10,000 meters a week ago, will race considerably shorter this time, giving the 1,500 a go for the second time this season. He'll also compete in a field event for the first time as a Falcon, signing up for the shot put.
 
Sophomore Alex Horton is close to a GNAC provisional time in the 800, and he'll try again to get there. His season best is 1:57.09; the standard to meet or beat is 1:56.31.
 
When the Falcon were at UPS on March 2, they won eight events: Miranda in the women's long and triple jump, Baldwin in the 400, Katie Thralls (Livermore, Calif.) in the 10,000, David Ferguson (Inverness, Ill.), in the men's 400, Ryan Endresen in the 400 meter hurdles, along with the women's and men's 4x400 relay teams.
 
NO. 1 IN THE MEET …
SPU recorded nine victories on the women's side and two on the men's side at the Spring Break Open last Saturday.
 
All but one of those came on the track. The women won everything from 100 to 1,500 meters, with senior Ali Worthen (Canby, Ore.) getting two of those (100, 200). Junior McKayla Fricker (Canby, Ore., 1,500) and sophomore Jasmine Johnson (Federal Way, Wash. / Federal Way HS, 400) had one apiece, and were part of the victorious 4x400 relay, along with sophomore Tasia Baldwin (Tacoma, Wash. / Foss HS) and freshman Lynelle Decker (Vancouver, Wash. / Mountain View HS). Baldwin also won the long jump, and Worthen took the 100 hurdles. Senior Emily Quatier (Portland, Ore.) took the 800, and senior Katie Thralls (Livermore, Calif.) was first in the 5,000.
 
Senior AJ Baker (Au Gres, Mich.) accounted for both men's wins, finishing first in the 3,000 steeplechase and in the 5,000.
 
Altogether this spring, Seattle Pacific athletes have won 30 events spread across four meets. Individually. Worthen has 11 of those (six events, plus the overall heptathlon title at the Chico Multi-Event Classic, one at the Oregon Preview on March 16, and three last week). Baker, Fricker, Baldwin, Thralls, and senior Trinna Miranda have two apiece. Senior Emily Quatier, senior Ryan Endresen (Portland, Ore.), and Jasmine Johnson have once each.
 
In addition, the Falcons have won four women's relays (three in the 4x400) and one men's relay.
 
… AND IN THE CONFERENCE
Seattle Pacific has seven top-ranked marks in the GNAC heading into the weekend.

Ali Worthen is the leader in the long jump (19 feet, 1 ½ inches) and the heptathlon (5,243 points). She also is part of the leading 4x100 relay team (47.92) as well as the top 4x400 team (3:53.65).
 
McKayla Fricker remains the pacesetter in the 800 (2:09.90), and Emily Quatier is No.1 in the 400 (57.16), with Jasmine Johnson second (57.56). Ryan Endresen is still atop the men's 400 hurdles list (54.42).
 
Along with Worthen on the leading 4x100 relay are junior BryAnne Wochnick (Portland, Ore.), Baldwin, and junior Kishia Mitchell (Puyallup, Wash. / Rogers HS). Quatier, Lynelle Decker, and Fricker teamed with Worthen to record the 4x400 mark.
 
… AND IN THE COUNTRY
Worthen's heptathlon point total of 5,243 remains the top total in NCAA Division II. Jordan Gray of Angelo State (Texas) remains closest to Worthen at 5,083.
 
Fricker is No. 3 in the 800 this week. She was the national leader after her 2:09.90 performance on March 16 in Eugene. Since then, only two people have gone faster: Jaylen Rodgers of Angelo State (2:07.56 on March 22) and Kimone Hewitt of Queens in North Carolina (2:09.15 last Friday).
 
SHOT PUT: BEEN A WHILE
Will Harrison, senior Nate Johnson, and sophomore RJ Straker (Pasadena, Calif.) are all entered in the shot put on Saturday. That will mark the first time in three years that the Falcons have had competitors in the shot (other than in decathlons). Their last shot putter was Billy Martin at the Western Washington Twilight on April 23, 2010.
 
Johnson has done the shot in multi-event meets, and has a career-best of 39 feet, 2 inches at last year's UC Santa Barbara Multis.
 
GRAGER RIGHT BACK IN THE GROOVE
So what if it had been almost a year since Molly Grager last competed in a high jump? So what is she'd only had just a few practices since joining the Falcons after the conclusion of basketballs season?
 
The SPU freshman from Kirkland, just east of Seattle, got right back into it last Saturday's Spring Break Open in West Seattle. She cleared 5-3, high enough to get onto the automatic qualifying list for the GNAC Championships. She currently is tied for No. 6 in the conference rankings.
 
Grager won the Class 3A Washington state high school high jump title last spring for Juanita, going 5-4. Her personal-best is 5-6, a mark which would put her on the NCAA provisional qualifying list if she reaches it this spring.
 
THREE PRs? LUQUIN LOOKIN' GOOD
Most athletes would be thrilled to go home from a meet with a new personal best in any event. But sophomore Maliea Luquin (Portland, Ore.) left West Seattle Stadium last Saturday with three of them.
 
She started her day by throwing the javelin 89 feet, 8 ½ inches. That was nearly four feet farther than her previous best of 85-9. From there, Luquin went to the long jump and went 17-1 ¾. That was an improvement of nearly a full foot from her previous best of 16-2 ¼.
 
After stepping onto the track long enough to tie her season best of 15.15 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles, she was over at the high jump pit. She cleared the bar set at 4-9, topping her old best of 4-6 ¼, which she had reached twice, both last season.
 
A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
Go figure: Here's Ali Worthen, one of the best multi-event athletes in SPU history, who seemingly has done everything on the schedule except the long-distance races.

But until last Saturday, there was one event that the versatile redshirt senior hadn't done here: the 100-meter dash. So Worthen took her spot on the starting line at West Seattle Stadium – and won it in 12.58 seconds. That put her on the GNAC provisional qualifying list, and it's actually the fifth-best time in the conference this spring.
 
Even in during her four years at Marshfield High School in Coos Bay, Ore., Worthen could be found just about everywhere – except in the 100. She did the 200, 400, 800, 100 and 300 hurdles, shot put, javelin, and all three jumps. She ran the 100 twice: as a sophomore in 2006 (13.54 seconds) and as a senior in 2008 (13.32).
 
POLLING PLACE
Last week, the first U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association national rankings came out, and the Seattle Pacific women part of them, coming in at No. 25 on the preseason list.
 
This week, the first regional rankings of 2013 have been released, and the Falcons are in that picture as well, checking in at No. 8. Grand Canyon is No. 1, and Great Northwest Athletic Conference rival Alaska Anchorage is No. 3.
 
SPU remains No. 25 on the national list. Lincoln of Missouri is atop that one, and Anchorage is No. 6.
 
Unlike most other sports, the USTFCCCA lists are not determined by voting from coaches. They are based strictly on performance. The preseason and first three regular-season rankings will combine both past and current performances. After that, only 2013 marks will be considered.
 
AROUND THE GNAC         
Click on this link for news, notes, and results from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
 
UP NEXT        
SPU heads to Spokane next Saturday, April 13, for War VI, the annual contest between schools from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. The day-long meet at Spokane Falls Community College begins at 9 a.m.
 
On Thursday and Friday, the Falcon multi-event athletes head to Sacramento for the MONDO Mid-Major Challenge at Sacramento State. Competition begins at noon both days.