The Seattle Pacific track and field teams had a record-breaking day at the Spokane Invitational on Saturday, Dec. 14.
Junior Hannah Chang, who claimed the gold medal in the women’s 100-meter hurdles at last season’s Great Northwest Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships, finished second in the women’s 60-meter hurdles at 8.55 seconds. Chang’s previous best for the 60 hurdles was 8.85, set at the 2024 GNAC Indoor Championships on Feb. 19.
The previous school record was 8.61, set by Maliea Luquin on Feb. 27, 2016. Chang’s record finish landed her on the NCAA Division II provisional qualifying list.
She also set a new personal record of 26.21 (previously 27.11) in the women’s 200-meter dash, finishing 16th. Senior Johanna Brown finished ahead of Chang in the 200-meter in 14th place with a personal best of 26.12 (previously 26.97).
In the men’s 60 hurdles, freshman Andrew Bell finished 10th at 8.31. Bell’s collegiate debut broke the previous record of 8.33 set by David Njeri on Feb. 21 at the 2020 GNAC Indoor Championships.
Another record-breaking debut came from freshman Justin Brooks, who finished fifth in the men’s 400-meter dash at 48.58, two-tenths of a second faster than the record set by Isaiah Archer on Feb. 20 at the 2023 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships.
Graduate student Lizzy Daugherty set the school record of 3.90 meters in the women’s pole vault at the 2024 Ken Shannon Final Qualifier on Feb. 23. She broke the record at Saturday’s meet by clearing 3.91 meters, finishing fifth in the invitational division. Senior Emily Thomason cleared 3.76 meters to take the top spot in the collegiate division.
Maya Ewing, a junior coming off her best-ever cross country season, grabbed her first-ever collegiate victory in her first indoor 5,000-kilometer run, crossing the finish line at 18:10.41. Fellow junior Matise Mulch followed in third place with a personal best of 18:33.53 (previously 18:36.06).
Junior Maliyah Hicks reached a personal best of 4.84 meters in the women’s long jump (previously 4.76 meters), finishing 24th.
Head coach Karl Lerum was pleasantly surprised by Saturday’s results.
“You try to go into it thinking we’re just going to work on our competitive muscles more than personal PRs,” Lerum said. “For the most part, we did that, but there were some real standout performances. It’s exciting to think where these kids are going to be in another couple of months.”
The Falcons return to competition on Friday, Jan. 17, at the UW Indoor Preview at Dempsey Indoor at noon.
