September 29, 2008
SEATTLE – The Seattle Pacific men's and women's cross country teams will trade places on the competition schedule this week.
The varsity women will have the week off from competition after competing in last Saturday's Stanford Invitational. Running with just the minimum of five competitors, the Falcons finished 18th in the team standings with 447 points. However, juniors
Jessica Pixler and
Jane Larson were way up among the leaders, placing sixth and 28th, respectively. Pixler's performance earned her GNAC women's cross country Athlete of the Week honors for the second straight week.
A group of mostly freshmen women will compete in the Emerald City Classic at Lower Woodland Park on Saturday morning at 10:30.
The men, after not racing last weekend, will head south to Salem, Ore., for Saturday's Charles Bowles Invitational at Bush's Pasture Park. The meet usually attracts Division II and Division III schools from along the West Coast, including several from SPU's own Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
STANFORD RECAP
The Falcons faced stiff competition and unusually warm weather last Saturday in Palo Alto, Calif. Temperatures soared into the upper 80s – far warmer than most runners prefer – but conditions were the same for everyone in the meet that included three ranked teams from the NCAA Division II West Region (SPU, Chico State and Cal Poly Pomona) and fourth-ranked Stanford from Division I.
Pixler (Sammamish, Wash., Eastlake HS), who placed 10th in last year's Stanford meet when she was the only Falcon on the course, climbed higher this time, coming home in sixth place with a time of 21 minutes, 22 seconds for 6,000 meters (3.72 miles). She was the first Division II runner across the line, out-leaning Stanford No. 3 runner Alicia Follmar. Of the 19 Division I schools in attendance, only three (UC Irvine, UC Davis and Stanford) had runners finish ahead of Pixler.
Larson (Fall City, Wash., Cedar Park Christian HS) also had a solid run, clocking 22:13 to take 28th among the 278 runners. Larson beat every runner from nine of the 19 D-1 schools.
Also competing for SPU were freshman
Natty Plunkett (Bellevue, Wash., Newport HS), who finished in 23:12; junior
Kate Harline (Orem, Utah, Orem HS), who ran 24:38, and junior
Lisa Anderberg (Edmonds, Wash., Kamiak HS), going 24:57.
Among the teams that Seattle Pacific likely will see at the West Regionals on Nov. 8 in San Diego, Chico State finished sixth at Stanford with 227 points, and Cal Poly Pomona was 23rd with 694.
SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
Even on a day when they were hoping for a higher finish, Falcons coach Erika Daligcon was pleased with the way her team dealt with the less-than-ideal hot conditions.
"It would have been easy for them to shut down and make excuses, but they didn't," Daligcon said. "Each person gave their best today."
"It was hot enough that people who were local (to the area) were being pulled off the course," she added. "The heat really affected our girls today, but that's not to make an excuse. Overall, there were lessons learned, and it was one more opportunity to run with lots of good competition around us in a big race. I think that helps as we focus now on the second part of the season we're going into.
BLOGGING WITH JESSICA
Jessica Pixler is writing a weekly blog throughout the cross country season. Her postings can be found on the Seattle Pacific sports Web site at www.spufalcons.com. They also are online by going to ncaa.com and clicking on the Blogs link at the top of the home page.
POLLING PLACE
Even with their impressive showing in the Sundodger Invitational, the SPU women dropped from No. 1 to No. 3 among West Region teams in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll of Sept. 24. Chico State moved into the top spot in the West, with Cal State Los Angeles also climbing past the Falcons into No. 2.
That also dropped Seattle Pacific from No. 2 to No. 7 in the national rankings. Defending D-II champion Adams State remained No. 1, Chico State is No. 4, and Cal State Los Angeles is No. 6.
UP NEXT
The Falcon men and women will head north to Bellingham on Oct. 11 for the Western Washington Classic in what is expected to be another look at some of the teams they will face in the GNAC meet on Oct. 25 at Apple Ridge in Yakima. Racing begins a 9:30 a.m. at Lake Padden Park. Seattle Pacific is the defending women's team champion, and
Jessica Pixler is the defending individual champion. The Falcon men will be seeking some redemption after finishing fifth among the five teams in last year's meet.
