COMING THURSDAY: NCAA PREVIEW
SEATTLE -- Two of them came from the suburbs east of Seattle -- one from a small Christian high school, the other from a large public one. Another came from north of the city. And one came all the way from Utah.
About all they had in common was that they liked to run -- and were good enough to run at the college level.
But back in that freshman fall of 2006 and even into the spring of 2007, Lisa Anderberg, Kate Harline, Jane Larson and Jessica Pixler were still just four individual talents who donned similar-looking maroon Seattle Pacific track uniforms.
Now, with one final week of training together behind them, graduation looming in front of them -- and an NCAA championship meet in between -- it would be safe to say that this quality quartet has left a distinctively successful mark on the Falcon program that will be tough for any future contingent to match.
Even if those future stars are all in the same graduating class.
“I think we knew it was a special group from the beginning,” SPU head track coach Karl Lerum said. “But it's hard to predict -- and nobody predicted this group would be this special. But the times that Jessica and Jane, in particular, have obtained, and the range of national-level performances (from all four) is really pretty astounding when you look at the whole four years.”
Added head cross country coach and assistant track coach Erika Daligcon, who has worked most closely with all four of them regardless of what season it is, “Just in getting to know them and their different personalities and seeing what hard workers they all were, I knew they would go on to do good things if they could stay healthy and motivated. To see the kind of success they've been having, especially in their senior seasons, has been great.”
For Pixler (Sammamish, Wash./Eastlake HS) and Anderberg (Edmonds, Wash./Kamiak HS), those seasons -- and their SPU careers -- wind up this weekend in Charlotte, N.C., at the NCAA Division II championships. Pixler is the top seed and big favorite in both the 800 and 1,500 meters. Anderberg is the No. 8 seed in the 800.
Larson (Fall City, Wash./Cedar Park Christian HS) was the No. 2 seed in the 1,500, though had to scratch out because of the discovery of a stress fracture in her femur earlier this week. Harline (Orem, Utah) was a provisional qualifier in the 1,500, and very much in the picture, but the final cutoff line ultimately fell two spots above her name on the list.
While all four would like to be racing, those who aren't no doubt will be channeling some positive vibes to those who are.
“This year, I've been thinking about it more and how blessed we are to have each other and how we can be ourselves with each other,” Larson said.
HELLO, MY NAME IS …
Larson had met Pixler at a high school meet once. But that was all. Anderberg had been at a Falcon Running Camp and had run in a postseason high school all-star race with Larson. But that was all. And Harline, being from out of state, had no connection whatsoever to any of the other three.
“You never know how close your friendships are going to be,” Larson said.
Ironically enough, Pixler -- she of 11 NCAA titles, with three of those coming on the cross country course -- initially was the outsider of the group. During that freshman fall, she was on the women's soccer team, and ran cross country races when there were no soccer conflicts.
“I would just (be there) every once in a while,” Pixler said. “I felt kind of awkward.”
Added Anderberg, “She was the blonde girl who showed up at the races and won.”
“I initially thought the cross country team was kinda weird,” Pixler added, laughing and flashing a smile toward the others, as Harline immediately chimed in, “Yeah, now she's part of the weirdness.”
Slow but sure, those initially tenuous relationships began to form -- not all at once, but rather, one at a time.
“I was mainly friends with Jane because she was on my (dorm) floor,” recalled Harline, who also had a class Pixler during that first quarter at SPU. “I would say (to Pixler), 'How was your soccer game this weekend?, and she would go, 'It was good.'”
It wasn't easy for Anderberg, either.
“I was in a different dorm, so we didn't hang out together,” she said.
NO STOPPING THEM -- OR EVEN SLOWING THEM DOWN
However, their athletic careers quickly were becoming intertwined, and that freshman year of 2006-07 was a harbinger of things to come. Three of them ran on the cross country team that placed sixth at NCAAs in 2006. Pixler won the first of her four straight NCAA indoor mile titles in early '07, then won the outdoor 1,500 and was second in the outdoor 800. Larson was 12th in the outdoor 3,000.
By the time they revved up for cross country practice late in the summer of 2007, it had become very clear to Erika Daligcon, then still an assistant coach for Doris Heritage, that Seattle Pacific had something extraordinary on its campus with this fast foursome.
“Sophomore year, seeing them come back from summer training and preparation for fall, and seeing their dedication to go out and do something as a team, I knew this was a special group,” Daligcon said. “And from that point on, they've had that same tenacity and enthusiasm for the sport and for each other and for the team.”
That fall, all four ran on the first of three straight NCAA cross country trophy teams, with Pixler -- who by then had given up soccer -- winning three consecutive individual championships. In the winter of '08, Pixler and Larson put together the first of their back-to-back 1-2 finishes in the indoor mile, and Larson and Anderberg ran on the third-place distance medley relay team . Anderberg also made outdoor nationals as a sophomore, placing an All-American eighth in the 800.
Pixler missed the 2008 outdoor campaign with stress fractures in her back, and Larson moved all the way up to second in the now-discontinued 3K.
This school year, which now is nearing an end, all four ran at the NCAA indoor nationals. Pixler and Larson went 1-3 in the mile; then were joined by Anderberg and junior Jennifer Pike on the distance medley relay team that came from behind to win the title. Harline also ran in the mile.
From those days when they barely knew each other, Harline, Larson and Pixler now share a house near campus. Anderberg's dorm is close by.
The only thing that will prevent them from doing more together -- at least competitively in SPU colors -- is the fact that they're all graduating in a couple weeks.
“I didn't know we would all be as fast as we were,” Harline said.
Although it's now spring, Harline's three teammates all flashed back to last fall as the favorite moments flowed.
“This final cross country season was kind of the culmination of a lot of things,” Anderberg said, “the peak of realizing that this special thing was going to end.”
Added Larson, “I just remember at (cross country) regionals, everyone had a great race, and then we went to the beach afterward and just kind of ran around. We enjoyed running hard and just having fun and being crazy. We balance each other out in that way, I think.”
At the team banquet in November, the seniors had their SPU uniforms on under their street clothes. Instead of offering some traditional senior “words of wisdom,” they took off their street clothes and started dancing to R&B/pop singer Chris Brown's 'Forever.' Then came the photos -- lots of photos.
“The part that kind of brought it home for me is we made a slide show of pictures of us together over the years, all the different memories,” Pixler said.
“It made me realize this has been an awesome four years.”
