THE SCHEDULE:        Seattle Pacific at Humboldt State Invitational
                                         Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016
                                         Men: 9:00 a.m.   Women:  10:00 a.m.
                                         Patrick's Point State Park / Trinidad, Calif.
                                         No live Webcast or live results
 
 
        Weekly release (PDF)
        Humboldt State Invitational information (PDF)
 
SEATTLE – It's not just a new season for the Seattle Pacific cross country teams. It's a new meet on the schedule to get it started.
 
The Falcons will pile into a pair of vans this week and set their sights south toward California, where they will compete in Saturday's Humboldt State Invitational.
 
Racing at Patrick's Point State Park in Trinidad begins with the men's 8-kilometer race at 9:00 a.m., followed by the women's 6K at 10:00.
 
SPU will be one of 11 schools in the meet. That includes the host Lumberjacks, whose women were one of the teams the Falcons beat out last November for a trip to the NCAA Division II nationals.
 
From last year's national-qualifying squad that met its goal with a top-15 finish, four women are back, joined by two other veterans and four freshmen. The men have a seven-man squad, five of whom raced last season.
 
A FINE MORNING FOR A RUN
For SPU athletes, Saturday's meet should feel almost exactly like running in Seattle. Friday's overnight temperatures are forecast to be on the low 50s, and they will be heading toward the low 60s on Saturday. Some low clouds might still be lingering at race time, but the sun is expected to poke through eventually.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- With the exception of Sundodger in 2014, this is the first time since 1988 that the Falcons have run in a season-opening meet with 10 or more teams. That 2014 Sundodger had 19 women's squads, and 21 men's. The 1988 opener was the Emerald City Invitational at Seattle's Lower Woodland Park, with 10 women's teams and eight men's. Saturday's meet has 11 teams.
-- For five of the past six years, the season opener has been in Fairbanks, Alaska.
-- Seattle Pacific is the only Great Northwest Athletic Conference school in Trinidad.
-- While four SPU women and two men will make their college cross country debuts, one Falcon will be making her long-awaited return to the course. Sophie Carroll, an academic junior, but a sophomore in terms of athletic eligibility, did not compete last year because of an injury. She also was sidelined for the winter indoor track season, but returned to the outdoor oval in the spring, running six meets, all in the 800 meters.
-- Just six men will race for Seattle Pacific this week, but they expect to be up to seven before the end of the season after junior Clark Sterling returns from an internship.
 
SCOUTING THE HUMBOLDT STATE INVITATIONAL
Nothing quite like finding out right away how things stack up against some of the best competition in the West. The Falcon women will get to do exactly that on Saturday, because heading up the expected field of 11 team is perennial regional powerhouse Chico State.
 
The Wildcats have won the last eight California Collegiate Athletic Association titles. They also are the defending Division II West Region champions, and capped off their 2015 season with the fourth-place team trophy at nationals. The top three finishers from that national team, including 12th-place Sadie Gastelum, are back.
 
Also worthy of keeping an eye on is host Humboldt State. The Lumberjacks are led by senior Kori Gilley, an All-West Region pick last year after she finished 15th in that race. Gilley was ahead of all the Falcons except now-graduated Anna Patti at both the regionals and at the Charles Bowles Invitational about a month prior to that.
 
Other CCAA teams in the field are Sonoma State and Cal State Monterey Bay, while Dominican and Notre Dame de Namur are coming from the Pacific West Conference.
 
Oregon Tech brings a solid women's squad to the meet. The Pelicans were 19th at last year's NAIA national championships, led by Suzie Garza, who capped her freshman year with a sixth-place finish.
 
So how to the Falcons fit in here?

 

Junior Mary Charleson (Mill Creek, Wash. / Henry M. Jackson HS) is coming off an outstanding outdoor track season, and was right on the cusp of making the NCAA field in the 1500 and 5000. She and senior Sarah Macdonald (Tucson, Ariz.) will be trying right from the start to see how far toward the front they can get and how close together they can stay. Senior Hannah Calvert (Enumclaw, Wash. / Enumclaw HS) and junior Chynna Phan (Bellingham, Wash. / Mt. Baker HS) are expected to be among the scoring pack, as well.
 
This will be the first opportunity to see the SPU freshman perform in their first 6K college race – a full kilometer longer than almost all high school competitions. Among the four newbies, Alyssa Foote (Beaverton, Ore. / Aloha HS) had three consecutive top-15 finishes in Oregon's large-school state meet, and Katherine Walter (Brier, Wash. / Mountlake Terrace HS) was 22nd as a junior and 15th as a senior in Washington's Class 3A (one notch below large school) state meet.
 
Ben Halladay is looking to stay at the front of the SPU pack in the men's meet. Halladay (Mukilteo, Wash. / Kamiak HS) is the leading veteran among the six Falcons making the trip to California, and was 31st in last year's Great Northwest Athletic Conference meet.
  
SCOUTING THE 2016 FALCONS
When it comes to experience on college running's biggest stages, the Seattle Pacific women have a lot of it.
 
That experience, combined with a foursome of talented newcomers, could help keep the Falcons very much in the chase for yet another trip to the NCAA cross country nationals this fall.

 

Led by senior Sarah Macdonald, the top returning placer from the 2015 NCAAs, and junior Mary Charleson, who blossomed into a national-caliber competitor not only on the trails but also on the track, SPU heads into the autumn believing they can pursue a Great Northwest Athletic Conference crown and some coveted tickets to Florida for November's Division II championship meet.
 
Macdonald is coming off of her best cross country season as a Falcon. She ran No. 2 behind now-graduated Anna Patti through the regular season, then capped her year by placing 65th at NCAAs in Joplin, Mo., crossing the line just three spots behind Patti. When action shifted to the track, Macdonald posted a national provisional qualifying time in the 5000 meters.
 
Charleson was Seattle Pacific's No. 3 placer in Joplin, coming across the line 99th overall. Just two weeks earlier in Monmouth, Ore., she had the best race of her career, surging forward to finish 20th. That put her on the All-West Region list and helped the Falcons squeeze out the fifth and final qualifying spot to nationals.
 
Senior Hannah Calvert and junior Chynna Phan also are returning from the national team. Calvert scored in all seven meets, including a top-25 finish at GNAC as the third Falcon finisher that day. She was No. 4 for the team at regionals and nationals.
 
Phan is best known for her talent in the 800 meters, as she ran at last winter's indoor track nationals in that event and on the All-American fifth-place distance medley relay team. She also scored in three of the five XC meets she ran, and was the final scorer at regionals to help clinch the national spot.
 
Juniors Hailey Kettel and Sophie Carroll will be vying for top-7 spots, along with freshmen Alyssa Foote, Kate Lilly, Sedona McNerney, and Katherine Walter. Foote had top-15 finishes in the Oregon state meet as a junior (12th) and senior (13th). Walter was a top-25er in the Washington state meet as a junior (22nd) and senior (15th). McNerney ran in three California state meets, and Lilly made the Washington state meet twice.

 

Seeking to set the pace for the Seattle Pacific men once again is junior Ben Halladay. Last year as a sophomore, he was the first Falcon finisher in five of the six meets, including GNAC and West Regionals.
 
Among SPU's other returners is senior Joey Walker, who scored at both conference (No. 4) and regionals (No. 5). Rounding out the list of veterans are senior David McLeod, along with juniors Brysten James and Clark Sterling.
 
Jesse Phan joins cross country after some solid performances in the 800 during the outdoor track season. Freshman Danny Provo comes aboard after a pair of top-20 finishes in the Montana state meet (20th as a junior, 10th as a senior).
 
WOMEN PICKED 4^TH, MEN 10^TH
Seattle Pacific's women have been tabbed for a fourth-place finish in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference preseason coaches poll. The Falcons received 88 points in voting by the 11 conference coaches.
 
Defending champion Alaska Anchorage, which has won six of the past seven GNAC women's titles, is the favorite to do so again. The Seawolves received nine first-place votes and 117 points. Western Washington got the other two first-place votes and 117 points. The other team voted ahead of SPU was Simon Fraser, picked third with 90 points.
 
The SPU men are picked for 10th, receiving 28 points. Anchorage is the overwhelming favorite.
 
SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
Click on the photo above for a preseason interview with assistant coach Chris Reed.

WHO'S THAT UP FRONT?
For the first time since 2013, someone other than Anna Patti will be the first Falcon across the finish line on Saturday.
 
Beginning with the 2013 NCAA Division II nationals in Spokane, the now-graduated star led the way for Seattle Pacific in 14 consecutive races. That included top-10 West Regional finishes in 2014 and 2015, and three straight victories to begin last year: the long-course and short-course meets as the Alaska Invitational, and a comeback win at Sundodger.
 
The last person other than Patti to set the SPU pace was McKayla Fricker, who was 10th at West Regionals in 2013.
 
Of the current crew, Hannah Calvert led the team at the 2013 Saint Martin's Invitational, and Sarah Macdonald was up front the following week at the Charles Bowles Invitational.
 
POLLING PLACE
The Falcon women are among the nation's and the West Region's elite teams according to preseason rankings compiled by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
 
SPU is No. 23 on the national list, receiving 27 points in the polling. It is one of four GNAC schools in the top 25. Alaska Anchorage is No. 6, Western Washington is No. 9, and Simon Fraser is No. 20. Grand Valley State of Michigan (197 points) and Adams State of Colorado (194) are a very close 1-2.
 
The preseason regional list has the Falcon women at No. 6. The same four GNAC squads are on that list, with Anchorage No. 2, Western No. 3 and Simon No. 5. Chico State is at No. 1.
 
Alaska Anchorage leads the men's West Region rankings. The Seawolves are ranked No. 4 nationally, with Simon Fraser 12th and Western Washington 22nd. Colorado Mines and Grand Valley State are 1-2.
 
RUNNING AROUND THE WORLD
While most of the Falcons trained locally this summer, a few got some miles in farther afield as they ventured out for various reasons.

 

Senior Sarah Macdonald did some of her running on Saltspring Island in British Columbia. Junior Mary Charleson and freshman Kate Lilly both logged some miles while in England.
 
Junior Hailey Kettel ran while in Mexico, and freshman Sedona McNerney put in some early-morning workouts while in the Baja California part of Mexico.
 
Even assistant coach Audra Smith did some training abroad as she and her husband traveled through Germany, Italy, and France.
 
A DIFFERENT KIND OF SCHEDULE
During some past seasons, the Falcons have raced almost every weekend. This year, they have just three meets prior to the GNAC Championships, all of them spaced two Saturdays apart.
 
After Saturday's Humboldt State Invite, SPU will return to action on Sept. 24 at the Saint Martin's Invitational in Lacey. Then on Oct. 8, it's the Western Washington Classic at Bellingham's Lake Padden Park.
 
The GNACs are set for Oct. 22 at Lake Padden, with regionals on Nov. 5 in Billings, Mont, and the D2 nationals on Nov. 19 in Saint Leo, Fla.
 
For the first time since 1993, the Falcons will not run at the Sundodger Invitational in West Seattle's Lincoln Park, as that would have given meets on three straight weekends.
 
"We're just trying to have a little different flavor to the season," assistant coach Chris Reed said. "It's a pretty light racing schedule, but it's an opportunity for our team to train well, and each race has a purpose as we build through the season. Then, it all kind of points toward the championship season."
 
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for a look at the latest results, news, and notes from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

UP NEXT
SPU, Western Washington, and host Saint Martin's are expected to be the three GNAC teams on the course at the Saint Martin's Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 24. The 8K men's race starts at 9:30 a.m., followed by the women's 5K at 10:20. The races take place on the Saint Martin's campus.