March 29, 2004

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - The 23rd annual Western Washington University Ralph Vernacchia Team Track and Field meet takes place Friday and Saturday at Bellingham's Civic Stadium.

Eight schools are competing - Central Washington, Pacific Lutheran, Saint Martin's, Seattle Pacific, Seattle U., Simon Fraser, British Columbia and the host Vikings.

Western has won the last six men's division titles, with Seattle Pacific claiming the last four women's crowns.

Three events will take place Friday, beginning at 6 p.m. with the women's 3,000-meter run. The men's 10,000 is scheduled for 6:20 p.m. and the women's 10,000 at 7 p.m.

Saturday's action begins at 10 a.m. with the field events. The first running event is slated for 12:20 p.m. and the last event at 4:55 p.m.

Two Vikings already are national provisional qualifiers - Stacey Hopkins (Sr., Sammamish/Eastlake) in the women's javelin (134-8) and Laura Trevellyan (Fr., Vashon/Vashon Island) in the women's 10,000 (37:52.0).

Western women's pole vaulter Danielle Juarez (Sr., Olympia/North Thurston) earned indoor All-America honors by placing fifth nationally in the women's pole vault in mid-March. She was an outdoor All-American in 2002.

Chris McClung is a Western team leader in four events, including the men's 200 (22.95), 400 (50.93), 4x100 relay (42.9) and 4x400 relay (3:22.8).

Besides the 10,000, Trevellyan also tops the Vikings in the women's 3,000 (10:42.75) and 5,000 (17:59.25). Two other three-event team leaders are Melissa Behrens (Sr., Redmond/Eastlake) in the women's 100 (12.5), 200 (26.00) and 4x100 relay (49.9); Laura Burch (Jr., McMinnville) in the 400 hurdles (1:06.2), 4x100 relay and 4x400 relay, and Kara Fischer (Fr., East Wenatchee/Eastmont) in the women's 400 (1:01.77) and both relays.

Two-event team leaders are Tom Farris (Sr., Issaquah) in the men's shot put (44-4) and hammer (136-10), Joshua Freeman (Jr., Bainbridge Island) in the men's 110 hurdles (15.1) and 4x400 relay, Beth Griffin (So., Seattle/Kennedy) in the women's long jump (15-3) and triple jump (33-8), Kurt Hartmaier (Sr., Woodinville/Redmond) in the men's 800 (1:58.9) and 1,500 (3:59.7), Ryan Los (Jr., Gig Harbor/Peninsula) in the men's 400 hurdles (56.02) and 4x400 relay, Mark Mellein (So., Maple Grove, MN) in the men's long jump (21-3) and triple jump (44-3 1/2), and Jacob Petz (So., Pullman) in the men's 100 (10.8) and 4x100 relay.

The home meet is the second of three for Western this season. The Vikings hosted the Winter Quarter Open on March 6, and will host the Western Twilight meet on Apr. 30.