THE SCHEDULE: Seattle Pacific at GNAC Championships
Saturday, October 24
Apple Ridge Run, Yakima
Women (6K) 10 a.m. Men (8K) 11 a.m.
Weekly release, with complete stats (PDF)
GNAC meet program (PDF)
SEATTLE – One team is running for a title. The other is running for a chance to keep running.
In either case, the Seattle Pacific cross country squads are ready for the challenges in front of them at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships.
The Falcon women will be going for their fifth straight conference crown, and the men will seek a top-four team finish that will guarantee them a trip to the NCAA Division II West Regionals when they step to the starting line at Apple Ridge Run outside of Yakima on Saturday morning.
The 6-kilometer women's race begins at 10 a.m., followed by the 8K men's race at 11.
A three-team battle is looming in the women's race. SPU, Alaska Anchorage and Western Washington all have a legitimate shot at it. Last fall, Anchorage came within four points of the Falcons with a strong surge during the last mile. But SPU prevailed, 48-52.
The men fell one spot short making it to regionals in 2008 and are out to do something about that on Saturday. It very likely will come down to four teams -- SPU, Northwest Nazarene, Western Oregon and Saint Martin's -- all in the chase behind Western Washington and defending champion Alaska Anchorage.
From GNACs, it's a two-week break to the West Regionals on Nov. 7 in San Francisco. But on Halloween Saturday, the Falcons will host an informal varsity-alumni event at Green Lake at 10 a.m. The race will be one 2.78-mile loop of the lake. In the spirit of the day, runners are welcome to compete in costumes if they wish. More information is available by contacting SPU coach Erika Daligcon at (206) 281-2772, or e-mailing to dalige@spu.edu.
SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
Given the nature of the schedule and with various health issues cropping up during the regular season, Saturday will the first time coach Erika Daligcon has all of her Falcon women on the same starting line at the same time.
She's eager to see the results.
“Things are looking as good as they possibly can be at this point as far as health goes and mentally being in the right place,” Daligcon said. “Everyone is on the same page -- and that's the bottom line here.”
She is fully aware of the stiff challenges presented by Anchorage and Western Washington.
“In one way, it's a challenge having so many GNAC schools ranked so highly,” Daligcon said. (Alaska Anchorage is No. 5, SPU is No. 7, and Western is No. 8 nationally.) “On the other hand, you have your competition right around you. So, Lord willing, when you get to the big day, (at regionals and nationals), you've been there.”
Daligcon said the Seattle Pacific men have the mindset to make that top-four group. Now, it's just a matter of seeing how they fare.
“The guys are looking forward to giving everything they've got,” she said. “I feel like this is one of the first years where we've had a group that is willing to work together. There's a lot of confidence to be gained from that, and knowing that your teammate is going to be there.”
SCOUTING THE GNACs: WOMEN
For the Falcons to extend their conference title streak to five, the task is clear-cut: If someone nearby is in Anchorage green or Western Washington blue, chase her down.
The Seawolves very nearly caught up to SPU last year. With just less than a mile to go, the Falcons seemed comfortably in front, 38-51. But it kept getting tighter after that until becoming the final four-point margin, 48-52.
While Seattle Pacific will have seniors
Jessica Pixler (Sammamish, Wash./Eastlake HS) and
Jane Larson (Fall City, Wash./Cedar Park Christian HS) up front, Anchorage has a tightly bunched pack of five very close behind them. In fact, at the San Francisco State Invite pre-regionals on Oct. 9, all five Seawolf scorers, led by sophomore Ruth Keino, finished within 37 seconds of Larson.
So the challenge for the Falcon pack of sophomore Natty Plunkett (Bellevue, Wash./Bellevue HS), senior Lisa Anderberg (Mukilteo, Wash./Kamiak HS), senior Kate Harline (Orem, Utah) and sophomore Mary Williams (Lake Jackson, Texas) will be to get between those Anchorage runners as much as possible. And Larson, who gave SPU a big boost last year by beating every UAA runner to the finish line (she was third overall behind Pixler and Western Washington's Sarah Porter) will be out to repeat that fete.
Porter is well out in front for the Vikings. But the four scorers behind her were within a minute of each other at the WWU Invite on Oct. 10 in Bellingham.
None of the other school are expected to be close to the front three. Last year, the gap between third-place Western Washington and fourth-place Western Oregon was 36 points.
SCOUTING THE GNACs: MEN
With a core of primarily freshmen and sophomores, the best years might very well be in front of the SPU men. But they certainly wouldn't mind if the future arrives a bit sooner than that.
Led by
Chad Meis -- the team's only senior -- the Falcons will find out on Saturday if they can make it happen.
Their immediate goal isn't to reel in Alaska Anchorage or Western Washington. The Seawolves are defending champions, and also have the defending individual champion in junior Marko Cheseto, who won by 37 seconds last year in a 1-2-3 UAA finish. And Anchorage actually might be a bit of an underdog, as Western Washington, led by three All-Americans, comes in with the higher ranking in both the West Region (No. 2 vs. No. 4) and all of D-2 (No. 7 vs. No. 21).
Instead, the Falcons will focus on Western Oregon (No. 5 in the West), Northwest Nazarene (No. 7 in the West), Saint Martin's (unranked), and possibly Central Washington (unranked). NNU, Saint Martin's and Central all have finished ahead of SPU in different meets this season. The Falcons have not yet faced Western Oregon.
Meis (Renton, Wash./Seattle Christian HS) comes to Yakima off of two solid performances: a sub 25-minute run at the Charles Bowles Invite in Salem, Ore., on Oct. 3, and a ninth-place finish just six days later at the San Francisco State Invite. He's aiming for the top 10 after placing 15th last year.
SPU's strong suit all season has been its pack, led at different times by junior
Jordan Lance (Mill Creek, Wash./Jackson HS) and sophomore
Nate Sleight (Bellevue, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS). The Falcons typically have been within a minute of each other (it was just 22 seconds from No. 2 to No. 5 at the Bowles). Closing the gap on Meis clearly would help Seattle Pacific's chances on Saturday.
RETRACING THE REGULAR SEASON
The Seattle Pacific women certainly affirmed their status as one of the country's top Division II programs this fall. But what became just as clear is that they're also in one of the country's top Division II conferences. The GNAC has three members of the national top 10. No one else has more than one.
The Falcons found out early that the road to the GNAC title goes not only through Seattle, but also through Anchorage and Bellingham. At the Sundodger Invitational on Sept. 19, SPU was fifth in the eight-team, elite-level Women's Invitational. But Western Washington took third, and Alaska Anchorage rolled to the team title in the Women's Open.
Seattle Pacific came back the following week at the prestigious Stanford Invitational, ran even better than at Sundodger, and, led by the second-place performance of Jessica Pixler (Sammamish, Wash./Eastlake HS) improved its standing by six places and more than 100 points from 2008, as most of the five Falcons in the race made PRs with room to spare.
The SPU men, just as they did last season, took considerable strides forward with a group of young runners. As expected, senior Chad Meis has been the pace setter, highlighted by his first career sub 25-minute performance when he ran 22nd at the Charles Bowles Invitational in Salem on Oct. 3.
But from the get-go, what has stood out for the men is the tight pack behind Meis.
MOST RECENT SPU TOP 7 – WOMEN
Oct. 10 at Western Washington Invitational
Lake Padden Park/Bellingham, Wash. (6K)
Seattle Pacific 4th/6 teams, 90 points
Runner SPU place Overall Time
Natty Plunkett 1 8 22:29
Lisa Anderberg 2 11 22:44
Kate Harline 3 12 22:48
Mary Williams 4 38 24:25
Krysta Carrick 5 39 24:26
Kelsey Brown 6 40 24:28
Laura Moser 7 48 24:58
MOST RECENT SPU TOP 7 – MEN
Oct. 10 at Western Washington Invitational
10K at Lake Padden Park/Bellingham, Wash.
SPU 7th/8 teams, 170 points
Runner SPU place Overall Time
Nate Sleight 1 27 34:06
Will Harrison 2 29 34:12
Andrew Van Ness 3 49 34:55
AJ Baker 4 52 35:02
Gavin Brand 5 61 35:38
Andrew Hamilton 6 76 36:29
Nathan Seely 7 82 37:42
POLLING PLACE
Everything stayed as it was in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association women's polls.
SPU remained No. 3 in the West Region and No. 7 in this week's national rankings. The Falcons are now one notch ahead of Western Washington in both polls.
Chico State is still No. 1 in both the West and national polls. Alaska Anchorage remained No. 2 in the West and No. 5 in the nation.
The Falcons have been as high as No. 1 in the West and No. 3 nationally this season.
ON THE HONOR ROLL
-- Jessica 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.
UP NEXT
The Falcons have a varsity-alumni event set for Saturday, Oct. 31 at Green Lake at 10 a.m. Runners who wish can wear costumes in honor of Halloween. The fun run/walk will be one 2.78-mile loop around the lake. The next race that counts will be the NCAA West Regionals on Saturday, Nov. 7, at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The women's 6K race is at 9 a.m., and the men's 10K is at 10 a.m.
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for a look at results, schedules and notes from the GNAC.
