Since its creation five years ago, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) indoor track and field championship has only seen one winner: the Falcons.

"We've always won the indoor title," head coach Karl Lerum said. "It means a lot. Our team takes pride in it."

SPU saw its team break countless records on the way to its fifth straight conference title on Monday, along with three national qualifiers and many individual victories.

"Down the line, everybody performed at or above their season best," Lerum said of the Falcons.

Sophomore Jessica Pixler shone as a Most Outstanding Performer at Jackson's Track in Nampa, Idaho, winning the women's mile and 800, both in meet record times. She clocked in a 4:50.38 and 2:10.18, respectively.

Pixler said that she wasn't even thinking about breaking records. "It's just one of those things that happens," she said. "A lot of people broke records [Monday]. It was really cool."

She added that she has not been doing any speed work during training yet and doesn't think that she has reached her peak for the season.

Freshman Mellisa Peaslee shattered the record books, leaping almost a whole foot over the previous meet record with a jump of 12-9, which was an improvement on the conference record by five inches.

The jump gave her an automatic qualifying score for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships on March 14 and 15.

"It hasn't hit me yet," Peaslee said of the victory and qualification. "But I'm happy that it finally came."

She was excited about her performance, saying that she sees it as an opening opportunity to jump at bigger meets against better competition.

Both Peaslee and Pixler aided a relay team--the 4x400 and the distance medley relay (DMR), respectively--in taking victories as well.

Sophomore Latasha Essien, senior Teona Golding, and freshman Jennifer Pike, along with Peaslee, conquered the 4-by-400 relay in a final time of 3:57.36, a meet and conference record.

Sophomore Jane Larson said that the freshmen sprinters in the 4-by-400 squad ran well, and that Golding, who anchored the team, ran "a beautiful lap."

"It's always fun to win as a team and have everyone put forth their best effort," Golding said. "Jennifer Pike was thrown in at the last minute, and for Peaslee it was only her second time [running the 4-by-400]. It was great to see the freshmen come out and perform so well."

Larson, a member of the winning DMR team, also came away victorious on an individual level, defeating Western Washington University's (WWU) Sarah Porter in the 5k.

It was her first college victory and a meet record time of 17:39.95.

"I had never run the 5k on a track before," Larson said, "so I went in not knowing what to expect."

The distance requires 25 laps around the track, a number which made Larson "a little apprehensive."

In the end, however, she was able to pace off Porter until the last mile, when she passed the WWU runner to claim the victory.

"I'm excited to run [the 5k] during outdoor season," Larson added. She is planning to focus on the mile for the rest of the indoor season, as well as the DMR.

"I'm excited about the relay. We have a good chance of winning or placing high [in nationals]," Larson said.

All in all, the SPU women dominated nine events, outscoring their next closest competitor, WWU, by 74 points.

On the men's side, Brian Cronrath finished second in the mile in what Golding described as a messy race.

"One guy tripped and Brian had to jump over him," she said. "He came to a complete stop and still finished high."

Asked why so many records were broken at the meet, Lerum said, "Some of these athletes are just getting started. They haven't had the opportunities to compete."

Eight men and 22 women represented the Falcons in the championships.

"Our top athletes have to run a lot of races and a lot of events," Lerum said. "We have a smaller team, but it's a talented group."

Golding said that, during the season, the athletes are competing individually, for themselves. But once the GNAC championships arrive, "everyone is stuck on the bus together for nine hours. It's more about scoring points [as a team]. It's an attitude everyone gets pulled into in a positive way."