April 3, 2003

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - The Western Washington University men's and women's track teams entertain six other schools, including most of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, at the 23rd annual WWU/Ralph Vernacchia Team Classic on Saturday (10 a.m.) at Bellingham's Civic Stadium.

The Vikings are joined by fellow GNAC members Central Washington, Saint Martin's, Seattle U., and Seattle Pacific. Pacific Lutheran and Simon Fraser complete the field. Seattle Pacific has won the women's title the last three years, Western has claimed the men's championship the last five seasons.

"It's always a good thing to be at home," said Western coach Pee Wee Halsell. "With not having to travel and coming off of a rest from spring break, we should be fresh."

In their last team competition, the Vikings won both the men's and women's titles at the Salzman Relays hosted by Pacific Lutheran.

"That was a real positive meet for us," Halsell said. "I think we have a good shot at doing it again."

The Western women finished 33 points ahead of Seattle Pacific at the Salzman Relays, but the Falcons were without three athletes competing in the NCAA Division II Indoor National Championships. On the men's side, Central Washington figures to be the chief threat to the Vikings continuing their victory streak in the meet.

"On the women's side, we're pretty solid all the way through," Halsell said. "For the men, we should be the favorites, but we do have some holes."

The feature event of the meet is the Brent Golden Memorial men's 5,000-meter race, which honors the late Western distance runner, a four-year letter winner for the Vikings from 1977 to 1980.

Another race to watch is the women's 200, where Western's Dania Swosinski (Jr., Tacoma/Wilson) and Central's Jodi Binder, who have the top two times in the GNAC this year, will battle.

Two of Western's top performers are distance runners. Ashlee Vincent (So., Bellingham/Squalicum) has the GNAC's best time in the women's 5,000 this season with a provisional national qualifying mark and school record of 17:02.00. She will run in either the 800 or 1,500. For the men, Zach Boteilho (Sr., Camas) has the best time in the conference in the 10,000, achieving the provisional standard with a 31:03.55. There is no 10,000 Saturday, so Boteilho will drop into the 5,000.