Falcons' Scout Cai breaks 5000 for second time at Aztec Invite...

In San Diego, Seattle Pacific’s Scout Cai (left/photo by Paul Merca) opened up the 2019 outdoor season by going over 5000 points in the heptathlon for the second time in her career at the Aztec Invitational Friday.

Cai scored 5001 points, just 16 off of her personal best of 5017 set at last year’s GNAC Multi-Event Championships, to finish fourth overall in her group, with Utah’s Kolbi Sims winning with a seven-event score of 5189 points.

The junior started day 2 with a leap of 17-11 (5.46m) in the long jump, then threw the javelin 119-3 (36.35m).  Cai finished her day by winning the 800 in 2:18.91.

Cai's point total puts her for the time being, number two on the NCAA D2 descending order list, pending the outcome of other meets around the country.

Falcon teammate Renick Meyer finished fifth in the group with a final score of 4879, while Kellie May did not start the 800.

"It was a big deal for Scout to come off a disappointing indoor nationals and be able to come out and slowly build and have 5,000 points," Falcons head coach Karl Lerum said. "She probably had to regain a little bit of confidence in those hurdles (the event she stumbled on at indoors), so this was a good start for her – and she's going to get better."

Meanwhile, the Falcon foursome of Peace Igbonagwam, Jenna Bouyer, Grace Bley, and Julia Stepper scored a school record 46.23 in the open section of the 4 x 100 meter relay.

That gave them the win by a full second ahead of Division I Nevada (47.26) and put the Falcons into the No. 2 spot on the NCAA Division II qualifying list, pending the outcome of other meets throughout the rest of the weekend.

After their work in the relay, Stepper, Bley, and Bouyer all raced in the 100-meter dash. Stepper was eighth overall in a season-best 12.15; Bley ran a career-best 12.16 (previous 12.19 last May 5), and Bouyer ran 12.36.

Complete results of the Aztec Invitational are available here.

In Spokane, Washington State athletes claimed 13 wins at the Sam Adams Invitational Friday, hosted by Whitworth University.

Building off the momentum set by hammer thrower Brock Eager’s win Thursday, Molly Scharmann took the victory in the women’s pole vault, setting a meet record of 13-5 (4.09m).

Chrisshnay Brown picked up where she left off a week ago, earning victories in both the shot put (50-5.5/15.38m), and the discus (148-4/45.22m) events.

The wins continued for WSU in multiple other events which included the 100-meter hurdles, where Lindsey Schauble recorded a PR of 14.90 seconds, the 100-meter dash, as Regyn Gaffney surged ahead of the competition with an 11.72 seconds mark, and finally in the 4x100 relay as the team of Jordyn Tucker, Lauren Newman, Charisma Taylor, and Gaffney posted a mark of 46.19 seconds.

Washington State dominated the 4x100 relay race as the team of Emmanuel Wells Jr., Ja'Maun Charles, Ethan Gardner, and Ray Littles went on to set a new meet record at 40.47 seconds. Charles picked up another win for the Cougars in the 100-meter dash with a mark of 10.63 seconds as well.

Eastern Washington earned three wins on the day, highlighted by Madison Doepker’s win in the women’s hammer, as she threw 183-5 (55.91m).

Central Washington’s HarLee Ortega won the heptathlon with a final score of 4913 points to put her in third on the NCAA Division II performance list behind Cai’s 5001 points set in San Diego earlier in the day.

Wildcat teammate Sidney Trinidad was third with a score of 4674 to put her fifth on the NCAA D2 list, and fourth on the GNAC list, pending the outcome of other meets around the country.

Complete results of the Sam Adams Invitational are available here.

NOTE:  The sports information offices of San Diego State, Seattle Pacific, Washington State, Eastern Washington, and Whitworth University contributed to this report.