SPU heptathletes head to San Diego, while Wildcat multi-eventers head to Spokane...
Falcon heptathletes Scout Cai (left/photo by Paul Merca), Renick Meyer and Kellie May compete in their first outdoor multi-event meet of the season at the Aztec Invitational in San Diego.
Cai has a bit of extra motivation going into the Aztec Invitational, as the three-time GNAC indoor pentathlon champ was forced to withdraw at the NCAA indoor championships two weeks ago after clipping a hurdle in the opening 60 hurdles.
Meyer will be eager to pick up where she left off in the hep – and where she left off was on the seventh-place step of the awards stand at last year's NCAA outdoor championships, making her an All-American. Both Cai and Meyer have broken through 5,000 points: 5,114 for Meyer; 5,017 for Cai in last year's GNAC Multi-Event Championships. May was on the brink of 4,500 as a freshman in 2018, tallying 4,482 at the Bryan Clay Invitational last April.
Meanwhile, Central Washington sends four heptathletes and four decathletes to Spokane for the Sam Adams Invitational meet, hosted by Whitworth University at the Pine Bowl.
Gonzaga, Eastern Washington, and Washington State will send teams to the Sam Adams meet, though Gonzaga director of track & field Pat Tyson will hold out those athletes who are competing in the Bay Area at next week’s Mike Fanelli Invitational hosted by San Francisco State or the Stanford Invitational.
Central Washington will send the majority of its team to Salem for Saturday’s Willamette Invitational, while Seattle Pacific will send a squad of sprinters to San Diego for the Aztec Invitational.
The University of Washington, Seattle University, Western Washington, and Saint Martin’s all have the weekend off.
WASHINGTON WOMEN, BOTH WESTERN TEAMS, AND SPU WOMEN RANKED IN USTFCCCA TEAM INDEX
The USTFCCCA released its Division I pre-season rankings, and has the Husky women’s squad ranked number 20.
The Huskies’ pre season ranking is weighed heavily on marks set by Katie Rainsberger (4:11.53 in the 1500 in 2017); Lilli Burdon (15:34.44 in the 5000 last year); and Olivia Gruver (14-11/4.55m in the pole vault last year).
The nation’s top five women’s teams are in order: USC, Texas A&M, LSU, Arkansas, and Oregon.
Other women’s teams from the Pac-12 ranked in the national top 25 include #9 Colorado, #11 Stanford, and #22 UCLA.
Neither Washington (73) nor Washington State (83) are ranked in the top 25. Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Alabama, Florida and BYU are the top five teams in the pre-season index, with Oregon (7), Arizona (15), Stanford (16), and UCLA (17) the only other Pac-12 schools in the men’s top 25.
In Division II, Western Washington’s mens’ squad is ranked #8 in the first official season ranking index.
The nation’s top five men’s teams are Chico State, Angelo State, Embry-Riddle (FL), UC San Diego, and Lee (TN).
The Vikings are the only GNAC men’s school ranked in the national top 25.
On the women’s side, Western Washington is ranked number 7, while Seattle Pacific checks in at number 15.
The top five women’s teams in Division II are Angelo State Azusa Pacific, UC San Diego, San Francisco State, and Academy of Art.
No other GNAC schools are in the top 25 in the ranking index.
The USTFCCCA releases are available via the organization’s home page.
IN OTHER NEWS…
Washington incoming freshman Sam Affolder was named by Track & Field News as its boys high school indoor athlete of the year.
The Loudoun Valley (Purcellville, Virginia) HS senior ran 4:06.21 on a leg of the distance medley relay, along with a 4:06.20 in the 4 x mile for his school, both of which were part of national high school record setting teams...
Folks asked us during the indoor season whatever happened to Alexis (Lexi) Rolan (left/photo courtesy EWU Athletics), who was a standout sprinter at Eastern Washington last season, and was named the Big Sky female freshman of the year after finishing second in the 60 and 200, along with eighth in the long jump.
Turns out that Rolan transferred to Liberty University in Virginia, where she ran 7.63 in the 60, 24.66 in the 200, and 18-1 (5.51m) in the long jump during the indoor season.
NOTE: The USTFCCCA, Track & Field News, and the sports information offices of Central Washington, Seattle Pacific, Gonzaga, Washington State, Liberty, and Eastern Washington contributed to this report.
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