Ralph Vernacchia Meet Information

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - The Western Washington University track & field program returns home to compete in Bellingham at the 37th Annual Ralph Vernacchia Track & Field on Saturday, held at Civic Stadium.

The Vikings are back in Bellingham for competition after a weekend trip to California full of strong performances at the Bryan Clay Invitational and Beach Invitational. WWU had two competitors at the Spokane Memorial Meet last Saturday as well.

The Ralph Vernacchia Meet is one of two meets remaining on the schedule for the Vikings, other than the GNAC Championships meets and the NCAA II Championships. The GNAC Combined Championships are upcoming on May 30 and April 1 at Northwest Nazarene University before the University of Washington Ken Shannon Invitational (May 4-5). WWU heads to Western Oregon University for the GNAC Championships on May 11-12 with the NCAA II Championships in North Carolina May 24-26.

37^th Annual Ralph Vernacchia Meet

The 37th Annual Ralph Vernacchia Meet marks the second and final home meet of the season for the Vikings following the WWU Team Invitational on April 6. A meet information page has been established at WWUVikings.com/2018Vernacchia to host meet links and results. The meet is scheduled to start with field events at 9 am and track events at 10:30 am, continuing throughout the day until approximately 5 pm. The WWU senior class will also be recognized in the afternoon during the meet.

WWU's home track & field facility, Civic Stadium, is located at the Civic Athletic Complex (1445 Puget Street) in Bellingham, an eight minute drive from the WWU campus. Admission to the meet will be $8 for adults and $5 for WWU students, faculty, staff and seniors (60+). WWU students with a Viking Territory Pass will be admitted free. A complimentary program will be distributed as well.

The Ralph Vernacchia Meet is named in honor of the long-time mentor of the men's track & field and cross country programs at WWU. Vernacchia's career included one cross country and seven track & field district titles along with countless NAIA All-Americans and NAIA Scholar-Athletes. Vernacchia retired in 2011 from WWU, where he was a professor in the PE Department, and from USA Track & Field, where he was co-chair of the Sports Medicine & Sciences' Psychological Services subcommittee. He served as a psychologist for the 2000 USA Track & Field Olympic team in Sydney.

Results from the meet will be uploaded via HTML links to WWUVikings.com/2018Vernacchia as soon as possible after completion of each event throughout the day. Results can be accessed during the day and compiled results will be available online upon completion of the meet.

Meet Details:
Event: 37^th Annual Ralph Vernacchia Track & Field Meet
Site: Bellingham, WA (Civic Stadium)
Date:April 28, 2018

• Meet Information Page
• Performance List (PDF)
• Performance List (HTML)
• Meet Program (PDF)

GNAC COMBINED CHAMPIONSHIPS

The GNAC Combined Championships will also be held within a week's time as Northwest Nazarene University hosts the multi-events conference championships on April 30 and May 1 in Nampa, Idaho.

The Vikings will have three entries in the men's decathlon as freshman Seren Dances (Port Townsend, WA), sophomore Nick Makrakis (Concord, CA/Northgate) and junior Rudy Mataya (Burlington, WA/Burlington-Edison) are each scheduled to compete. Dances (6,151 points - 5th), Mataya (5,570 points - 6th) and Makrakis (5,544 points - 8th) are each among the top 8 on the conference performance list in the decathlon.

Live results will be available at GNAC.live. Visit the GNAC Championships information page for more info.

LAST WEEK

The Vikings turned in many strong performances competing Wednesday through Saturday at the Bryan Clay Invitational and Beach Invitational last weekend. Collectively, WWU recorded personal-best provisional-qualifying marks in four events, two GNAC outdoor top-10 marks and nine WWU outdoor top-10 marks among many personal-best efforts.

Last Friday at the Bryan Clay Invitational, junior Tupre Wickliff (Vancouver, WA/Evergreen/Clark College) cleared a provisional-qualifying height of 2.06m (6-9) to place 5th of 39. His mark leads the GNAC, ranks tied for 24th nationally as well as tied for 5th on both the WWU top-10 and GNAC top-10 lists.

Junior Kyler Sager (Snohomish, WA/Everett CC) added a provisional-qualifying time in the 800m last Friday, placing 38th of 148 in a time of 1:51.94. The effort ranks 4th on the WWU top-10 list and 3rd in the GNAC this season (36th nationally).

Sophomore Raquel Pellecer (Sandy, OR/Portland State) was 1st of 46 in the javelin with a mark of 46.92m (153-11), a provisional mark but short of her season-best and GNAC-leading throw (47.91m/157-2) ranking 4th nationally. Freshman Natalie Vetto (Kirkland, WA/Lake Washington) placed 2nd behind Pellecer, improving her provisional-qualifying mark with a personal-best of 44.94m (147-5), ranking 3rd in the GNAC and 11th nationally.

Junior Maddie Taylor (Seattle, WA/Auburn Mountainview/Montana) also posted a provisional-qualifying high jump mark on Saturday at the Beach Invitational, clearing 1.70m (5-7) to finishing 9th of 52 placers. Her GNAC-leading mark ranks 5th on the WWU top-10 list, tied for 10th on the GNAC top-10 list and tied for 11th nationally.

Additional program top-10 marks for the WWU men came from sophomore Liam Cossette (Spokane, WA/Ferris) with a time of 3:53.20 (7th on WWU top-10 list) in the 1,500m (161st of 254) last Thursday at the Bryan Clay Invitational as well as Seren Dances in the decathlon with 6,151 points (6th of 9 in Group 1) to rank 5th in WWU history after competing last Wednesday and Thursday at the Bryan Clay Invitational.

Additional program top-10 marks for the WWU women came from junior Savannah Smith (Renton, WA) in the 200m (25.24 - 4th on WWU top-10 list) and 400m (57.12 - 7th on WWU top-10 list), sophomore Hannah Bradley (Bellingham, WA) in the 200m (25.46 - tied for 8th on WWU top-10 list) and sophomore Peyton Shinnick (Maple Valley, WA/Tahoma) in the 3,000m steeplechase (11:16.00 - 5th on WWU top-10 list). Shinnick was 67th of 93 in the 3,000m steeplechase on Thursday night while Smith was 28th and Bradley was 38th of 106 in the 200m. Smith finished 33rd of 77 in the 400m.

Click to view recap and results links for the Vikings last week in California.

In addition to the Vikings in California, junior Tracy Melville (Lamont, WA/Lind-Ritzville/Sprague) and senior Deja Svastisalee (Spokane, WA/North Central) competed at the Spokane Memorial Meet, with Melville finishing 3rd in the 3,000m steeplechase (11:47.62) and Svastisalee placing 4th in the 400m hurdles (1:08.67).

AMONG THE RANKED

The WWU women are ranked No. 29 in the most recent U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) national rankings and have been among the top 25 multiple weeks during the season. The WWU men are No. 72 nationally and No. 7 in the West Region, while the women rank No. 12 in the region.

BY THE NUMBERS

Among WWU outdoor top-10 lists, the Vikings have added 22 marks currently on the outdoor WWU top-10 lists (14 for the women, eight for the men) during the season.

The Vikings also have 62 marks ranking among the top 10 in the GNAC (38 for the men, 24 for the women), including 25 among the top five (16 for the men, nine for the women), with five GNAC-leading performances. Click to view the GNAC performance lists.

Through eight weeks during the outdoor season, nine Vikings have recorded provisional-qualifying marks - five for the women and four for the men. Five of the nine provisional-qualifying marks are in the javelin (three on the women's side, two on the men's side) and two are in the high jump, as well as one in the 800m by Kyler Sager and one in the pole vault from 2017 All-American Anna Paradee (Sr., Tacoma, WA/Decatur).

GNAC HONORS

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)

COACH HALSELL

Head coach Pee Wee Halsell is in his 31st year at the helm for WWU as the longest tenured coach in WWU history. He has received 33 Coach of the Year honors with 26 league honors, five regional honors, one district honor and one area honor. Halsell has coaches 10 national champions with 95 Vikings earning All-America honors in track and 30 in cross country, along with numerous scholar-athletes in both track & field and cross country.

COMING UP

WWU competes at the GNAC Combined Championships next Monday and Tuesday (April 30 and May 1) at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho, before traveling to the Ken Shannon Invitational on May 4-5 at the University of Washington. The GNAC Championships will be held May 11-12 at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, Oregon.

THE 2018 SCHEDULE