BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Washington University track & field program will host its first of two home meets during April on Friday as Seattle Pacific, Saint Martin’s and British Columbia join the Vikings for the WWU Team Invitational at Civic Stadium.
The meet will begin with field events starting at 2 pm, followed with track events getting underway at 3 pm. The last scheduled field events are slated to begin at 6:30 pm while the last event on the track is set for 7:40 pm.
The WWU Team Invitational meet page features a performance list, heat sheets and other meet information. As events are completed at the meet on Friday, event result files will be uploaded and hyperlinked to the meet schedule events on the page. Complete and compiled results will be available on the meet page at the conclusion of the meet.
Civic Stadium is located at the Civic Athletic Complex (1445 Puget Street) in Bellingham, an eight minute drive from the WWU campus. Ticket prices will be $8 for adults and $5 for WWU students/faculty/staff/seniors 60+.
The Team Invitational is a new meet on the schedule for the Vikings in 2018. WWU used to hold two home meets every year – the Team Triangular or Quadrangular, and the Invitational with a twilight meet also staged occasionally. The Team and Invite meets merged in 1992 under the current name.
The Twilight meet was held in the late 70s and early 80s, and was restarted in 2004. The likelihood for better weather continued to help it grow in popularity through 2013. The Ralph Vernacchia and Twilight meets were combined in 2013. The Team Invitational returns in 2018 as a separate meet to address the need for additional competitive opportunities in all events.
Friday’s Team Invitational is the first of two home meets for WWU with the 37th Annual Ralph Vernacchia Track & Field Meet to follow on April 28.
In the most recent U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) national rankings the WWU women are just outside the top 25 at No. 26, after being ranked No. 21 last week. The WWU men are ranked No. 71 in the most recent poll. The WWU men enter the weekend ranked No. 6 in the most recent West Region USTFCCCA poll, up from No. 8 last week, while the WWU women rank No. 11 in the region after ranking No. 12 last week.
WWU is returning home after competing in four locations last weekend at the Stanford Invitational, San Francisco State Distance Carnival, University of British Columbia Open and University of Puget Sound Shotwell Invitational. Click to view a full recap and results from Friday and Saturday.
Friday’s competition last week included improvements upon previous provisional-qualifying marks for senior Anna Paradee (Tacoma, WA Decatur) in the pole vault (3.95m/12-11 ½ – 6th) and junior Alex Barry (Sequim, WA) in the javelin (61.90m/203-1 – 8th) at the Stanford Invitational.
At the SF State Distance Carnival on Friday, junior Isaac Derline (Kent, WA/Kentridge) placed 45th in the 5,000m with a personal-best time of 14:47.99 as the No. 10 time on the WWU top-10 list, replacing his previous PR (14:48.86), which had also ranked No. 10.
At the UBC Open last Friday, freshman Hannah Nienaber (Battle Ground, WA/Prairie) added a provisional qualifier in the javelin (42.31m/138-9 – 1st) to join teammates Raquel Pellecer (So., Sandy, OR/Portland State) and Natalie Vetto (Fr., Kirkland, WA/Lake Washington) as Vikings to record provisional-qualifying marks in the women’s javelin this season.
During Saturday’s action at Stanford, Pellecer improved upon her previous provisional-qualifying mark in the javelin with a throw of 47.91m (157-2) to place 2nd, ranking No. 7 on the WWU outdoor top-10 list and No. 10 on the GNAC outdoor top-10 list. Vetto also improved her previous provisional-qualifying mark with a throw of 43.97m (144-3) to place 6th. Pellecer (4th), Vetto (9th) and Nienaber (18th) each rank among the top 20 javelin marks nationally this season and the throw by Pellecer earned her GNAC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week honors for the third time in 2018.
Last Saturday at the SF State Distance Carnival, junior Savannah Smith (Renton, WA) placed 3rd in the 400m with a time of 57.24 to rank No 7 in the WWU record books. Junior Kyler Sager (Snohomish, WA/Everett CC) also added a program top-10 time, finishing the 800m in 1:52.98 for the No. 8 time on the list and placing 7th in the race.
The majority of WWU student-athletes competed at the UBC Open last Friday, with 1st-place finishes for Nienaber in the javelin, as well as freshman Ben Jacot (Tacoma, WA/Curtis) in the 10,000m (32:33.97), sophomore Jewels Oliquiano (Kaneohe, HI/Castle) in the pole vault (3.40m/11-1 ¾) and sophomore Chanelle Eddy (Bellingham, WA/Sehome/Whitworth) in the discus (40.16m/131-9).
The two-day decathlon concluded Saturday at UBC with junior Rudy Mataya (Burlington, WA/Burlington-Edison) winning the competition with 5,570 points to lead a 1-2-3 finish for the Vikings. He was followed by sophomore Nick Makrakis (Concord, CA/Northgate) in 2nd (5,544 points) and freshman Seren Dances (Port Townsend, WA) in 3rd (5,535 points). Five Vikings competed at UPS last Saturday, with freshman Myles Smith (Puyallup, WA) winning the 800m in 1:59.24 and freshman Garrett Davies (Vancouver, WA/Mountain View) placing 2nd in the high jump (1.97m/6-5 ½) in an outdoor personal-best effort.
Through five weeks and seven meets during the outdoor season, six Vikings have recorded provisional-qualifying marks – four for the women and two for the men – and added 12 marks to the outdoor WWU top-10 lists (eight for the women, four for the men). The Vikings also have 64 marks ranking among the top 10 in the GNAC (23 for the women and 41 for the men), including 29 among the top five (16 for the men, 13 for the women), with four GNAC-leading performances.
WWU has been honored with five GNAC weekly awards during the outdoor season, including three honors for Pellecer.
• GNAC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week (March 5): Raquel Pellecer (So., Sandy, OR/Portland State)
• GNAC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week (March 12): Raquel Pellecer (So., Sandy, OR/Portland State)
• GNAC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week (April 2): Raquel Pellecer (So., Sandy, OR/Portland State)
• GNAC Men’s Field Athlete of the Week (March 12): Alex Barry (Jr., Sequim, WA)
• GNAC Men’s Track Athlete of the Week (March 12): Bryant Welch (Fr., Burien, WA/Mount Rainier)
Coming Up: The Vikings travel to the Saint Martin’s Jay Hammer Meet next Saturday in Lacey, Washington. The following weekend features a trip to California for the Azusa Pacific Brian Clay Invitational (April 19-20), Mt. Sac Relays/California Invitational Combined Events (April 19-20) and the Long Beach State Beach Invitational (April 20-21). WWU is back home at the end of the month to host the 37th Annual Ralph Vernacchia Track & Field Meet on April 28.

 

Courtesy of WWU Athletics.