THE SCHEDULE: Seattle Pacific women at NCAA Championships
Saturday, November 21
University of Southern Indiana/Evansville, Ind.
6 kilometers
10 a.m. PST
Weekly release (PDF)
SEATTLE – It has been an era unlike any other in the history of Seattle Pacific women's cross country. And it's not quite finished yet.
On Saturday morning, a group that has raced most every step of the way together, and two more runners who already have made significant contributions and plan on continuing to do so when next fall arrives, will step to the starting line on the University of Southern Indiana Cross Country Course for the 10 a.m. PST start of the 6-kilometer NCAA Division II championships.
When they do, senior Jessica Pixler (Sammamish, Wash./Eastlake HS) will break out of the blocks in pursuit of her third straight championship. Senior Jane Larson (Fall City, Wash./Cedar Park Christian HS) will chase yet another All-American honor. And a pack of five Falcons -- fellow seniors Kate Harline (Orem, Utah), Lisa Anderberg (Mukilteo, Wash./Kamiak HS), and Suzie Strickler (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) and sophomores Natty Plunkett (Bellevue, Wash./Newport HS) and Mary Williams (Lake Jackson, Texas) will follow as closely as they can in an effort to snare yet another piece of hardware for the SPU trophy case.
Seattle Pacific heads to Indiana off its best race of the season, which resulted in a third-place finish behind Alaska Anchorage and Chico State at the West Regionals in San Francisco on Nov. 7. Anchorage, which won the Great Northwest Athletic Conference title, was well out in front with 35 points. But the Falcons closed considerable ground on West rival Chico State, coming within 17 points of the Wildcats, 58-75.
While Pixler has won the past two individual titles, SPU has come home with the second-place team trophy in 2007 and the fourth-place model in 2008.
SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
From the first day of turnouts before school started, coach Erika Daligcon has taken a big-picture look at the season, and asked her runners to do the same.
As a result, the Falcons are coming into nationals with their training on target and the momentum they gained from a solid regional run in San Francisco two weeks ago.
They've definitely been focused in the right direction,” Daligcon said. “We've been looking at meets leading up to this as opportunities to sharpen or perhaps experiment and try things out in order to be that much stronger when it comes to big meets.”
With that approach, Daligcon said this team is even more zeroed in on the challenge at hand.
“They know what needs to be done in order to have the most positive results there,” she said. “They've put in that training consistent throughout the season.”
There are just four team trophies available, but between six and 10 teams have a legitimate shot of claiming one.
“I think we'll be keying off the same schools that we have been all season,” Daligcon said. “(Defending champion) Adams State is a great school to keep focus on, and Grand Valley State. And it's exciting for the West (which has three teams in the top 10, plus No. 11 Western Washington) to see what we an do as a region.
“At the end of the day, I have no doubt that they're going to be racing their utmost.”
HOW'S THE WEATHER BACK THERE?
Unlike last year's snowy conditions in Pennsylvania, Evansville is expected to have … well, downright runner-like conditions on Saturday. With a forecast of partly cloudy skies, the morning will start out in the low 40s, and temperatures are expected to climb to nearly 60, meaning it should be near 50 or better by race time.
SCOUTING THE NATIONALS
Haven't we seen you before? The top contenders at this year's nationals certainly could ask that question at the starting line.
And the answer would be an emphatic “yes.”
For starters, there's Adams State of Alamosa, Colo. The Grizzlies have won the last six D-2 women's titles and have 14 crowns overall, although they're ranked just No. 4 coming into the meet.Grand Valley State of Allendale, Mich., was last year's runner-up, but comes in this week as the country's top-ranked team. Western State of Gunnison, often a bridesmaid behind Colorado rival Adams State, is there again. And of course, Seattle Pacific, at No. 6 in the rankings, wants to stay in that trophy zone. Ditto Chico State, which is No. 5 on the national list.
This year, add Alaska Anchorage to the trophy-contending contingent. The Seawolves literally ran away with the GNAC championship, were just as dominant at the West Regionals, and currently own the No. 3 national ranking. As expected, second-ranked Missouri Southern is eyeing hardware, too.
As always, the key to success is a tight pack, and all of the top teams have one: just 28 seconds between Nos. 1 and 5 for Chico State, 34 seconds for Anchorage, 39 seconds for Adams State, 45 seconds for Grand Valley State and 58 seconds for Missouri Southern.
SPU's five-runner scoring group was separated by 2 minutes, 19 seconds at regionals. But that was with Pixler way out in front of everybody. From No. 2 Jane Larson to No. 5 Lisa Anderberg, the spread was just 59 seconds.
PIXLER'S POCKET IS FULL OF TITLES
As for Jessica Pixler, she's the overwhelming favorite to make it three cross country championships and nine NCAA crowns altogether between XC, indoor track (four) and outdoor track (two). Neely Spence of Shippensburg (Pa.), who ran close to Pixler for about a mile last year before Pixler pulled away in the snow at Slippery Rock, Pa., is back in the field. But the next four runners behind them were seniors.
By the time they hit the finish line last year, Pixler was 28 seconds in front of Spence, stopping the clock for her 6-kilometer run in 20 minutes, 59 seconds, becoming the first woman to break 21 minutes on the Slippery Rock course.
Pixler's title collection includes
-- Cross country (2007 and 2008).
-- Indoor track mile (2007, 2008 and 2009).
-- Indoor track 5,000 meters (2009).
-- Outdoor track 1,500 meters (2007 and 2009).
LAST YEAR AT NATIONALS
Capping a season in which she came back from a major track injury, Jessica Pixler pulled away after the first mile of the 6,000-meter race at Cooper's Lake Campground in Slippery Rock, Pa., and won easily, leading the Falcons to a fourth-place finish in the team standings on a cold morning that was speckled with snow flurries.
“It was really kind of amazing. Even at the end, I felt good,” said Pixler, whose time of 20 minutes, 59 seconds broke the two-week-old course record and made her the first woman to beat the 21-minute mark on the Cooper's Lake layout. “I had no idea how the race was going to go. I really had no plan going in it. My only plan was to give it my best shot.”
At the wire, Pixler was 28 seconds in front of Shippensburg's Neely Spence, who was considered the primary challenger. Spence, who ran 21:27, had set the previous course record of 21:09 when the won the Atlantic Regional meet two weeks prior to nationals.
Pixler's performance helped the Falcons place fourth among the 24 teams with 194 points. Defending champion Adams State of Colorado won again, this time with 79 points.
SPU's Jane Larson delivered another strong performance, finishing 15th. Natty Plunkett placed 51st. Kate Harline was 89th, junior Lisa Anderberg was 92nd, Katie Hart placed 108th, and Mary Williams was 112th.
WEST REGIONAL RECAP
Jessica Pixler went out from the start and ran to her fourth straight West Regional title on Nov. 7 at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The Falcon senior cruised over the 6-kilometer (3.72-mile) course in a record time of 20 minutes, 8 seconds.
The Falcon senior broke her own course standard of 20:36.4, which she set on Oct. 9 in the San Francisco State Invitational pre-regional meet, and gave her a 34-second margin of victory on runner-up Sarah Porter of Western Washington.
Pixler's victory and a solid seventh-place run from fellow senior Jane Larson led SPU to a national-qualifying third-place finish in the team standings. Great Northwest Athletic Conference stablemate Alaska Anchorage won with 35 points, Chico State was second with 58, the Falcons were next with 75, and Western Washington grabbed the fourth and final team qualifying spot.
All four of those schools are ranked in the top 10 nationally. Chico came at No. 2, Anchorage at No. 5, Seattle Pacific at No. 6, and Western at No. 10.
MOST RECENT SPU TOP 7 – WOMEN
Nov. 7 at NCAA West Regional Championships
Golden Gate Park/San Francisco (6K)
Seattle Pacific 3rd/25 teams, 75 points
Runner SPU place Overall Time
Jessica Pixler 1 1 20:08.9
Jane Larson 2 7 21:28.8
Natty Plunkett 3 17 21:59.9
Kate Harline 4 22 22:09.9
Lisa Anderberg 5 28 22:27.5
Suzie Strickler 6 36 22:51.8
Mary Williams 7 89 24:02.8
POLLING PLACE
The Falcons held their ground at No. 6 in the final U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association national poll prior to NCAAs. And, as expected, they nailed down the No. 3 spot in the final West Regional poll.
Alaska Anchorage wound up No. 1 in the West and climbed to No. 3 nationally. Chico State fell out of the West's top spot and dropped from No. 2 to No. 5 in the national poll after finishing 23 points behind Anchorage at regionals.
Grand Valley State remained No. 1 in the national poll, with Missouri Southern at No. 2, then Anchorage, and six-time defending national champion Adams State at No. 4.
Falcons GNAC rival Western Washington dropped one notch nationally to No. 11, and wound up No. 4 in the West.
ON THE HONOR ROLL
-- By virtue of winning her fourth conference crown, Jessica Pixler earned GNAC Female Athlete of the Year honors for the fourth straight year.
-- Pixler was named the GNAC Athlete of the Week for women's cross country for two consecutive weeks during September. Pixler, who won it on Sept. 21 for her third-place performance in the Sundodger Invitational, picked up another one on Sept. 28 after running second at the Stanford Invite. Pixler now has 26 GNAC Athlete of the Week honors for her career. Of those, 12 have been for cross country. The other 14 have been for indoor and outdoor track combined.
-- After her dominating win in San Francisco two weeks ago, which resulted in her fourth consecutive regional championship, Pixler was named the West Region Female Athlete of the Year by the USTFCCA.
-- A total of eight Falcon women were named to the GNAC academic all-conference team. Half of those have grade-point averages of 3.90 or better, led by the 3.99 of senior Suzie Strickler (exercise science). Pixler has a 3.92 in English, Lisa Anderberg sports a 3.91 in global development studies, and sophomore Natty Plunkett is at 3.90 in psychology. Also on the all-academic squad are sophomore Margaret Hanscom (Lake Oswego, Ore., 3.86 in education), senior Jane Larson (English), senior Kate Harline (3.52 in religious studies) and sophomore Mary Williams (3.23 in biology). Strickler, Pixler, Anderberg, Larson and Harline all made the team for the third time.
-- SPU also had three men on the all-academic squad: senior Chad Meis (Renton, Wash./Seattle Christian HS, 3.45 in electrical engineering), sophomore Daniel Hamilton (Missoula, Mont., 3.36 in computer science), and sophomore Nathanael Sleight (Bellevue, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS, 3.29 in physics). Meis earned conference honors for the third time.
UP NEXT
With the cross country season wrapping up, the Falcons will turn their attention to indoor track. The season begins after the holidays with the UW Indoor Preview. That meet will be Jan. 16 at Dempsey Indoor on the University of Washington campus.
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for a look at results, schedules and notes from the GNAC.
