BELLINGHAM, Wash. – It was a great all-around day at Civic Stadium in Bellingham with the Western Washington University Track & Field program hosting the 40th annual Ralph Vernacchia Invitational.
 
A pair of program records were set in the outdoor mile, three additional program top-10 marks were obtained and 10 individual event winners highlighted the full day of events on a rainy-turned-sunny day in Bellingham.
 
Honoring the late and legendary Bill Roe, the mile returned to the event card at the Vernacchia Invitational, with Mac Franks setting the WWU men's record with a time of 4:03.64 and Mia Crocker recording the women's mark in 4:52.95.
 
Additional program top-10 marks were recorded by Aliyah Dawkins in the triple jump (No. 6, 11.67m/38-3.5), Ethan Sterkel in the long jump (T-4th, 7.20m/23-7.5) and Taliah Coe in the discus (No. 9, 42.80m/150-5).
 
"It was just a great day to be a Viking…seeing our team compete and build up to the events that are coming up, but also record solid times and marks," said WWU head Track & Field Coach Pee Wee Halsell. "The weather turned out to be great in the afternoon, we got a chance to recognize a great senior class and we had a lot of alumni out to watch the current team. And of course having Ralph Vernacchia here to support us is pretty special."
 
Event winners included Franks in the mile, Dawkins in the triple jump, Noah Johnson in the 100m (PR of 10.91), Brian Le in the 200m (22.80), Bryant Welch in the invitational 400m (49.36), Ryan Witters in the open 400m (51.00), Ben Malquist in the shot put (16.06m/52-8.25), Damian Mercado in the triple jump (13.41m/44-0), Amanda Short in the javelin (45.59m/149-7) and Kacey Provo in the pole vault (PR of 4.72m/15-5.75).
 
The Vikings entered the weekend with the men ranked No. 4 and women No. 8 in the West Region. In the USTFCCCA conference ratings, the WWU men are No. 1 in the GNAC and women listed No. 2. The GNAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships will be held May 13-14 in Ellensburg.
 
Complete results from the Ralph Vernacchia Invitational are available at the following links through TFRRS:

• Full Meet Results
• WWU Women's Results
• WWU Men's Results

The Vikings 29 seniors were recognized in the middle of the meet for their contributions to the program. This group has been through a few tumultuous seasons with the pandemic, all while continuing to grow as student-athletes and great representatives of Western Washington University. Thank you this this great group of Vikings! One of the featured events at the Vernacchia Invitational was the return of the mile to the schedule. WWU Track & Field historian Paul Scovel helped us build the top-10 list for the mile, which was further updated today with records being set by Mac Franks and Mia Crocker. Since the change to metric distances in 1976, the Mile has shown in Western results only a handful of times as schools converted to 400-meter tracks. Here is a look at the updated school records for the outdoor mile for the men and women (top 10 set as a WWU student-athlete):
 

MEN'S MILE	TIME	YEAR	WOMEN'S MILE	TIME	YEAR
Mac Franks	4:03.64	2022	Mia Crocker	4:52.95	2022
Drew Weber	4:05.10	2022	Ila Davis	4:56.29	2022
Kevin McDermott	4:09.40	2022	Katelyn Steen	4:58.66	2014
Devin Kemper	4:11.50	1999	Sophie Wright	5:00.59	2022
Jordan Welling	4:12.00	2011	Taylor Guenther	5:07.62	2014
Bill Cliff	4:13.6h	1968	Haley O'Connor	5:11.71	2015
Braden Timpe	4:13.98	2012	Peggy Sherrill	5:16.6h	1977
Anthony Tomsich	4:14.60	2010	Tina Stimson	5:18.89	2004
Scott Taylor	4:16.2h	1970	Barb Bentley	5:23.2h	1979
Nick Roehl	4:16.5h	1977	Deanne Nienhuis	5:24.96	1994

WWU will serve as the host for the 2022 GNAC Combined Championships May 2-3 (Monday-Tuesday) at Civic Stadium in Bellingham. The Vikings will have five competitors in the championships, with Cooper Cummings, Ryan Kenny and Trent Kibler competing in the 10-event decathlon and Matty Lagerwey and Leanne Kibbee in the seven-event heptathlon. The championships field includes nine competitors in the decathlon and eight in the heptathlon. Points earned during the combined championships will towards the team standings for the GNAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Live results can be followed via GNAC.live.
  The Ralph Vernacchia Invitational is named in honor of the former mentor of the Track & Field and Cross Country programs at Western Washington University. Ralph's career included one cross country and seven track & field district titles, as well as countless NAIA All-Americans and NAIA Scholar-Athletes. Ralph is retired from Western, where he was a professor in the PE Department, and from USA Track & Field, where he was the Sports Psychological subcommittee chair. He served as sport psychologist for the 2000 USA Track & Field Olympic team in Sydney. He was inducted into the WWU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1988. The Vernacchia meet served as one of the final meets of the 2022 regular season, with five Vikings scheduled to compete in the GNAC Combined Event Championships Monday and Tuesday at Civic Stadium and a handful of distance runners tentatively scheduled to compete on Saturday, May 7 at the Portland Twilight at Lewis & Clark College. The GNAC Outdoor Championships will be held May 13-14 at the CWU Recreation Sports Complex in Ellensburg.