THE SCHEDULE                    Seattle Pacific vs. Northwest University
                                                Friday, Sept. 1, 2017
                                                Women: 5:00 p.m.   Men: 5:30 p.m.
                                                Magnuson Park / Seattle
                                                No live Webcast or live results
 
        Weekly release (PDF) 
 
SEATTLE – The runners returned to practice a little earlier than usual. Now, they get to start racing a little earlier than usual.
 
The Seattle Pacific Falcons will get their 2017 cross country season started on Friday when the head across town to Magnuson Park for a dual meet against Northwest University of Kirkland.
 
The women's three-mile race starts at 5:00 p.m. The men will follow with their 4½-mile run at 5:30 p.m. Prior to that, the University of Washington and Seattle University will have separate women's and men's races (4:00 and 4:30, respectively) in their annual season-opening dual.
 
SPU's entire team has been practicing since mid August, about two weeks ahead of previous years. The last time the team had a meet this early was in 2012, when a small group ran at the Alaska Fairbanks Long Course meet on Aug. 30.
 
This is the first of four regular-season meets on Seattle Pacific's calendar.
 
WON'T GET WET THIS TIME
After getting through a mostly unpleasant spring outdoor track season in terms of weather conditions, the Falcons can leave their sweats in the locker room for this one. Friday is expected to be mostly sunny, with highs in the upper 70s around the late afternoon race time.
 
DUALS ARE A RARITY
Virtually all cross country competition is now in multi-team invitationals, ranging from small gatherings of half a dozen teams to large ones such as Sundodger, with its 20-plus schools.
 
Looking back through past results, the most recent dual meet for the SPU women was on Oct. 2, 2004 at Western Washington in Bellingham. The Vikings won, 20-35. For the men, the last dual was a week earlier, on Sept. 25, 2004 at Alaska Fairbanks. The Falcons prevailed, 16-39.
 
ABOUT NORTHWEST UNIVERSITY
The Eagles are an NAIA school, and compete in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, which has three schools in Washington, seven in Oregon, and one in Idaho.
 
Last year, the Northwest women placed seventh at the conference meet, and sent one runner, Sarah Estabrook, to the NAIA nationals. Estabrook finished 54th out of 354 competitors, and is back for her senior year. Also returning for her senior year is Lily Engelbrekt. Estabrook and Engelbrekt were 11th and 16th, respectively, at the conference meet.
 
Northwest's men also were seventh at the CCC meet. Leading the way for the Eagles was Kyle Cole (now a grad student) in 28th, and Riley Sine (now a sophomore) in 30th.

NU is coached by the husband-wife team of Mark and Alison Mandy.
 
The conference is considered one of the toughest in the NAIA for cross country. Last year, four Cascade Collegiate women's teams placed in the top eight at nationals. Southern Oregon won the men's title, and three other CCC teams were there, as well, led by College of Idaho in fourth place.

SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS ... CHAPTER 1
Click on the photo below for a video interview with seniors Ben Halladay and Mary Charleson.
                                                                




SCOUTING THE 2017 FALCONS
When the Seattle Pacific women approach the starting line this fall, no matter where that starting line happens to be, they'll do so with a sizable amount of experience – including postseason experience.
 
Looking to be at the front of the pack once again is senior Mary Charleson. She won last year's Humboldt State Invitational, and led the team with a fourth-place finish at the GNAC Championships. Although her 2016 cross country season finished short of nationals, Charleson was back in the fast lane during indoor and outdoor track, racing at nationals in both seasons.
 
Factoring into SPU's depth behind Charleson is another senior, Chynna Phan. She has three West Regional races and one nationals under her feet and has been a steady contributor to the scoring pack.

 

A pair of sophomores figure to be racing near the front. Alyssa Foote had a solid track season, capped by a 5,000-meter race at the USATF Junior Nationals in June. She was SPU's No. 2 finisher at West Regionals. Kate Lilly also delivered some strong track performances.
 
Senior Sophie Carroll had a strong finish to last fall's cross country season, scoring at GNAC as the No. 4 Falcon finisher and 30th overall. She scored again at West Regional, coming across the line as Seattle Pacific's No. 5 runner.
 
Other veterans on the course are senior Hailey Kettel and sophomores Sedona McNerney and Katherine Walter.
 
All four of SPU's newcomers bring considerable experience from their high school state meets. Among the most successful is Dania Holmberg, who was a top-10 finisher in Idaho for three straight years, capped by third place as a senior in 2016. She also was fourth as a junior and ninth as a sophomore. Emily Thompson ran twice in the Nike Team Nationals, placing 7th as a junior and 11th as a senior.
 
The Falcon men have the benefit of a larger squad this year, with nine in action, including six talented newcomers.

 

Setting the pace up front will be senior Ben Halladay. He was the first SPU runner across the line in all four meets last fall. In the spring, he came through with his the first sub-4:00 time of his career in the 1,500 meters, clocking 3:59.12 at the Ken Shannon Invitational.
 
Also back are sophomore Jesse Phan and senior Brysten James. Phan scored in all four meets, and was the No. 4 Falcon across the finish line at GNAC. At the GNAC outdoor track meet in the spring, he got into the 800-meter finals as the last of the nine qualifiers, then moved up to sixth in the championship race.

 

The group of newcomers includes a state high school champion. Royce Garcia won the Class 4A Mississippi title as a sophomore in 2014, finishing in front by three seconds and helping St. Stanislaus win the team crown, as well.  Peder Rickbeil made the top 10 in the Class AA Montana state meet last fall as a senior, placing 8th. Shad Galloway cracked the top 15 in last year's Oregon large-school state meet, placing 13th.
 
SPU WOMEN PICKED 3rd IN GNAC
The preseason coaches' votes are in, and the Falcon women have been tabbed for a third-place finish in this year's Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship meet, That's where SPU also finished last year, trailing champion Alaska Anchorage and runner-up Simon Fraser.
  Seattle Pacific received 88 points in the voting by the 11 GNAC coaches. Anchorage is the favorite, collecting nine of the 11 first-place votes and 107 points. Simon Fraser was close behind with the other two first-place votes and 102 points. Western Washington is picked for fourth, slightly behind SPU with 83 points.
 
On the men's side, the Falcons are 10th in the preseason voting with 22 points. Anchorage is the favorite there, as well, with eight first-place votes and 108 points. Western Washington got the other three firsts, and is picked No. 2 with 95 points, just ahead of Simon Fraser's 92.
 
SPEAKING OF RANKINGS …
SPU's women are in the first set of West Region rankings as compiled by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. The Falcons are No. 8 on this week's list.
 
Perennial regional power Chico State is No. 1, followed by GNAC preseason favorite Alaska Anchorage at No. 2. Other GNAC schools in the initial top 10 are No. 5 Simon Fraser and No. 9 Western Washington.
 
Seattle Pacific is not in the national top 25, but did receive two votes. Grand Valley State of Michigan is No. 1, with Chico at No. 4, and Anchorage at No. 7. Other West teams on the national list are No. 8 Cal Baptist, No. 9 Point Loma Nazarene, No. 14 Simon Fraser, and No. 22 Cal State San Marcos.
 
FIRST TO THE FINISH LINE
In 12 of the past 15 seasons, SPU has had at least one regular-season meet winner. The most recent was Mary Charleson at last year's Humboldt State Invitational.
 
The most recent Falcon men's winner was Jordan Wolfe at the 2011 Apple Ridge Run Invitational in Yakima.

SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS ... CHAPTER 2
Click on the video below for a video interview with assistant coach Chris Reed.
 




NATIONAL EXPERIENCE
Although the Falcon women fell short of making the NCAA meet last November, three of their runners still picked up some valuable national experience as the school year continued.

 

During the winter. Chynna Phan and Mary Charleson helped the women's 4,000-distance medley relay team race to an All-American eighth-place finish at the Division II indoor championships in Birmingham, Ala. Phan ran the 800-meter third leg, and Charleson came from 10th place to move up to eighth on the final lap of the 1,600-meter anchor leg.
 
Charleson also ran in the mile at NCAA indoors, placing 13th to earn second-team All-American honors. Then, she made it to the national outdoor meet this past spring, winding up 19th in the 5,000 meters in Bradenton, Fla.
 
Alyssa Foote capped her freshman year by qualifying for the USA Track & Field Junior National in Sacramento, Calif. Foote competed in the 5,000 meters, finishing 11th, and ran with the lead chase pack for a good portion of the race.
 
POSTSEASON PICTURE
Both Falcon teams will race in at least two of the three postseason meets.
 
The GNAC Championships are on Saturday, Oct. 21, at Bellingham's East Lake Padden Park. The women's 6K is set for 10:00 a.m., followed by the men's 8K at 11:00.
 
From there, the teams will prepare for a trip to Ash Creek Preserve adjacent to the Western Oregon University campus in Monmouth for the NCAA Division II West Regionals. Those races are set for Saturday, Nov. 4, with the women's 6K at 10:00 a.m., and the men's 10K at 11:15.
 
Qualifying for the NCAA Division II nationals, slated for Evansville, Ind., on Saturday, Nov. 18, Instead of the eight regions being allocated a specific number of team qualifiers as has been the case for several years, only the top three from each region are guaranteed a spot.
 
The other eight berths in the 32-team field will be awarded using a system somewhat (though not entirely) like the RPI ratings for the NCAA basketball tournaments. Thus, any team not among the top three won't know for sure until early the following week if they have made the field.
 
OLD FAVORITES BACK ON THE SCHEDULE
After switching things up in 2016, SPU is racing a more familiar slate of meets this fall.
 
Once Friday's dual against Northwest is in the books, the Falcons will get ready for the Sundodger Invitational. This will be the 26th annual version of the Pacific Northwest's biggest cross country invite, and Seattle Pacific teams have run in 22 of the first 25. Competition on Saturday, Sept. 16, at West Seattle's Lincoln Park starts at 9:00 a.m. with the women's 6-kilometer race, followed by the men's 8K at 9:40.
 
The Charles Bowles Invitational is on the docket for Saturday, Sept. 30. Most of the Pacific Northwest schools, plus some from elsewhere around the West, will gather at Bush's Pasture Park in Salem, Ore. The men race 8 kilometers starting at 9:30 a.m.; the women go 5K at 10:20.
 
A trip to the Western Washington Classic in Bellingham is on the calendar for Saturday, Oct. 7. That race is at East Lake Padden Park, same site as the GNAC Championships two weeks after that. The meet can serve as a GNAC preview of sorts, as eight of the 11 schools are slated to be in the meet.