Pixler wins fourth straight NCAA indoor mile title; WWU's Ryan Brown wins pole vault at NCAA D2 meet...

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico--Seattle Pacific senior Jessica Pixler ran to her fourth consecutive NCAA Division II indoor mile championship on Saturday afternoon at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

Pixler posted a time of 4 minutes, 46.42 seconds, pulling away from Alexis Skarda of Mesa State on the fifth of the eight laps.

Pixler's fellow senior teammate Jane Larson, the runner-up in this meet last year, finished third in a time of 4:50.74.

Western Washington University's Ryan Brown (left/photo courtesy Western Washington University) cleared 16-11 (5.16 meters) to win the men's pole vault.

Brown, who entered the competition as the national leader with a mark of 17-1 1/2 (5.22 meters), won on number of misses over Dan Novak of Minnesota State Mankato.

Both cleared their first height of 15-7 1/4 on the first attempt. Brown made 15-11 1/4 on his first try and Novak on his second, then both cleared on their second attempts at 16-3 1/4 and made 16-7 1/4 on their first tries. Brown then hit 16-11 on his first attempt and Novak on his second and both missed three times at 17-3.

"I came in feeling very good," said Brown. "I felt comfortable coming into it (winning vault), I got off the ground really well, and it was a good clean jump.

"I knew coming in that I had a target on my back, but the main thing I focused on was to keep my head into jumping and do as well as I could."

Brown becomes Western's 10th track and field individual national event champion and the second to accomplish that indoors. He placed 13th at nationals last year at 15-11.

The Vikings' Sarah Porter placed fourth in the women's 5,000 meters with a 17:26.05 clocking.

The women's 4x400 relay of Ellie Siler (So., Spokane/Lewis & Clark), Michelle Howe (Jr., Lakewood), Megan O'Connell (Jr., Sammamish/Skyline), and Sarah Brownell (Jr., Yelm) also finished fourth in a school-record time of 3:48.67.

Emily Warman (So., Sedro-Woolley), the defending national champion in the women's triple jump, placed 10th with a mark of 38-6 1/4 (11.74). Jordan Welling (Jr., Burlington/Burlington-Edison) finished 12th in the men's 5,000 with a clocking of 15:46.73.

Complete results from the NCAA Division II indoor track & field championships can be accessed here.

NOTE: Seattle Pacific University, Western Washington University, and the NCAA contributed to this report.