CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND (part 2): SPU's Aniteye, CWU's Hollis & Chandler, WWU's Weber & DMR head to D2s...
While the big schools are in Albuquerque for the NCAA Division I championships, Seattle Pacific, Western Washington and Central Washington will send a small contingent to Virginia Beach, Virginia for the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships, which start Friday at the Virginia Beach Sports Center.
The group is led by Seattle Pacific grad student Vanessa Aniteye (photo courtesy SPU Athletics) from Eagle River, Alaska, who goes into the national championship as the top seed in the 800 meters.
Aniteye, who finished sixth in the NCAA 400 meters outdoors last year, made the conversion to the 800 in the fall when she ran on the Falcon cross country team, despite never competing in the sport.
The transfer from Alaska Anchorage grabbed the national lead in the 800 in December by winning the Spokane Invitational in 2:13.04, topping the 2:13.52 mark she set in 2019 outdoors in her only collegiate attempt at the distance.
Since then, she has steadily dropped her time down, running her personal best of 2:07.53 at the Husky Classic on February 11th against a field comprised primarily of big schools. The former sprinter won the GNAC title in 2:08.71.
She runs in the second heat of the 800 at 4:40 pm local time (1:40 pm in Seattle). The top two in the three heats plus the two fastest time qualifiers advance to Saturday's final at 2:10 pm (11:10 am in Seattle).
Central Washington's two representatives at the nationals are E'Lexis Hollis in the 60 meter dash, and Lauryn Chandler in the 60 hurdles.
Hollis, a junior from Ellensburg, is the 12th qualifier in the women's 60-meter dash. At the GNAC championships back on Feb. 21, Hollis finished second and ran a 7.46, which not only put her in a position to qualify for the national championships but also broke her school record.
Chandler, a senior from Bremerton, is the 14th qualifier in the women's 60-meter hurdles. Chandler won the GNAC title with a season-best time of 8.57 seconds. Her time was good for fourth all-time in the GNAC and number 2 in school history.
Chandler goes in the first heat of the 60 hurdles prelims at 11:45 am Pacific time, with the top two in each of the two heats, plus the four fastest time qualifiers advancing to Saturday's final at 12:40 pm Pacific.
Hollis runs in the first heat of the 60 dash 30 minutes after Chandler. The top two in each of the three preliminary heats plus the two fastest time qualifiers advance to Saturday's final at 1:00 pm Pacific.
Western Washington's Drew Weber will pull double duty for the Vikings, as he'll run in the first of two heats of the 800 at 1:55 pm Pacific, where he's seeded 12th. The top three from each of the two heats plus the two fastest time qualifiers advance to Saturday's final at 2:20 pm Pacific.
After his qualifying 800m race, Weber then turns around two hours later for the finals in the distance medley relay, where he'll team up with Will Henry, Brian Le, and Jonah Bloom. Weber ran the anchor (1600) leg at the UW Invitational in late January. The Vikings set a new school record, running 9:45.48.
Freshman Connor Palmen will also travel with the team and be available to run one of the four legs.
NOTE: The NCAA, and the sports information offices of Seattle Pacific University, Central Washington University, and Western Washington University contributed to this report.
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