The weekend of April 11 to April 14 was packed with competition for Seattle Pacific University athletics. The women’s rowing team waited out poor weather conditions before their scheduled regatta, and the men’s and women’s track and field teams competed in three separate meets over three days.
Women’s rowing flew across the country to Cherry Hill, New Jersey, for the Knecht Cup Regatta on Saturday, April 13, and Sunday, April 14. While inclement weather prevented any competition on April 13, the Falcons rowed two races on April 14. They scored third place in the Division II Club Four with a time of 8:18.57 and fourth place in the Division II Club Eight with a time of 7:07.95.
In the Club Four, the Falcons were steered by sophomore coxswain Aleksia Haugen with freshman Emmerson Spencer as the stroke. Junior Emma Ely, sophomore Emma Jones and sophomore Amelia Pape rounded out the crew. The Club Eight crew consisted of senior coxswain Lucy Sandahl, senior stroke Natalie Korolenko, senior Megan Popielak, sophomore Ixchel Watson, junior Audrey Rekedahl, sophomore Bella Lisenby, senior Megan Rouse, sophomore Anna Boatman and sophomore bow Gem Gatmaytan.
Women’s rowing will compete in their next regatta at the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships from Saturday, April 27, to Saturday, April 28. Races will be held on Lake Natoma in Gold River, California.
SPU track and field teams traveled to sunny southern California for three meets between Thursday, April 11 and Saturday, April 13 — the Beach Invitational and Pacific Coast Invitational in Long Beach, California, and the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California.
At the Bryan Clay Invitational, sophomore distance runner Matise Mulch scored a personal best in the women’s 1500-meter run with a time of 4:44.96 (previously 4:57.82 from the Doris Heritage Invitational), placing 80th in that event, which included runners from both Division I and Division II schools. Mulch also finished fifteenth in the 5000-meter event at 18:04.16, a 14-second improvement from her 18:22.53 time from the Mangrum Invitational.
Mulch’s fellow sophomore distance runner Maya Ewing scored a season-best of 4:49.14 in the 1500-meter run. Senior distance runner Annika Esvelt also performed well, placing 16th in the women’s 10000-meter run at 33:41.59 and landing the number three slot in the National Collegiate Athletics Association’s Division II national list.
Senior pole vaulter Lizzy Daugherty cleared 3.72 meters in the pole vault event, landing her in third place for the women’s Open B Division.
The final highlight from the Bryan Clay Invitational was sophomore pentathlon/heptathlon runner Hannah Chang, who placed seventh in the women’s heptathlon with 4,346 points. Chang finished the 800-meter run at 2:30.54 (previously 2:36.53 from 2023’s Multi-Event Championships), the 200-meter dash at 26:38 (previously 26.51) and the high jump at 1.50 meters (previously 1.49 meters).
At the Pacific Coast Invitational, senior David Njeri placed 21st in the long jump at a distance of 7.04 meters. Njeri also finished in 10th place for the men’s triple jump at 14.63 meters.
Seniors Evan Carpenter and Aniya Green both achieved new personal bests in the men’s and women’s 100-meter dash events. Carpenter placed ninth in his heat at 11.41 seconds (previously 11.34), and Green placed eighth in her heat at 12.56 seconds (previously 12.61).
At the Beach Invitational, senior distance runner Brennan LeBlanc placed sixth in the men’s 3000-meter steeplechase event with a personal best of 9:38.30. Freshman Jonathan Lieb placed fifth in his heat of the men’s 1500-meter event at 4:15.80. Carpenter finished ninth in the 400-meter run with a time of 53.31 seconds.
Track and field will next compete at the Wildcat Open on Saturday, April 20, in Ellensburg, Washington, at the Central Washington University’s Recreation Sports Complex. Events will begin at noon.
