Women's team results             Women's individual results
       Men's team results                    Men's individual results

BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Natty Plunkett had been waiting more than a month for Saturday to come.

Once it got here, the Seattle Pacific junior was back in her front-running form.

Plunkett, in her first racing action since early September, raced to a top-25 finish on Saturday, leading the SPU women to fifth place in the Western Washington Cross Country Classic pre-regional meet.

Falcons junior Plunkett (Bellevue, Wash./Newport HS) crossed the line 24th among the 118 competitors, finishing the 6-kilometer race at East Lake Padden Park in 23 minutes, 10.3 seconds. With freshmen Alli Cutting (Sequim, Wash./Sequim HS) and McKayla Fricker (Canby, Ore.) close behind, SPU checked in with 171 points. Alaska Anchorage won with 42, and Great Northwest Athletic Conference stablemate Western Washington was fourth with 88.

Plunkett has been out of action with a stress fracture since two season-opening races at Alaska Fairbanks on Sept. 2 and Sept. 4.Cutting also had been sidelined for the past couple weeks with a minor strain.

Cutting crossed the line 29th in 23:37.1, and Fricker, in her first college cross country race, was 35th in 23:48.6.

“I give so much credit to the ones who had been sitting out with injuries,” Falcons interim head coach Letiwe Patton said. “I told Natty to pretty much take it easy and get back in the mode of running. She'll be ready for conference. Alli wasn't pleased with her results, but I thought she handled it pretty good. My surprise came from McKayla. She did 23:48, which was decent for her first 6K.” 

Among the teams the Falcons beat on Saturday was Alaska Fairbanks, which is ranked fifth in the West Region this week by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. SPU is not among this week's top 10 West teams. The Nanooks wound up 10th in the 12-team field with 273 points.

Seattle Pacific also finished ahead of fellow GNAC members Saint Martin's (seventh with 222) and Central Washington (eighth with 231).

“That's a good situation for us in terms of conference standings,” Patton said. “I said if we can still beat those teams in conference and beat Northwest Nazarene, we could still be third. That's within reach.”

In the men's 10K, Nate Sleight came through with his best performance of the season to lead SPU. Sleight (Bellevue, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) broke the 34-minute mark, stopping the watch in 33:57.3 to finish 43rd out of the 121 runners.

Once again, the Falcons had a tight pack, with their front four separated by 47 seconds. That added up to an eighth-place finish with 207 points. Alaska Anchorage won with 33, Western Washington was second with 65, and Saint Martin's from the GNAC was seventh with 190.

Sophomore Andrew Van Ness (Bellevue, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) place 50th in 34:24.1; junior Daniel Hamilton (Missoula, Mont.) placed 56th in 34:42.4; and sophomore AJ Baker (Au Gres, Mich.) was 58th in 34:44.7.

Patton said some extreme side pain forced front-runner Jacob Wahlenmaier out of the race at the midpoint.

“At the beginning of the race, Wally was right there with the front pack, and on the second loop, he was fine,” Patton said. “Then Andrew, Daniel and AJ all had to step it up a little bit. It was Nate's best race because he broke 34 minutes.”

Seattle Pacific will have next weekend off from competition, although they will participate in their annual Halloween costume fun run on Saturday at 10 a.m. at Green Lake. Then, they will head to Yakima for the GNAC championships, set for Saturday, Nov. 6. The men's 8K race will be at 11 a.m., followed by the women's 6K at noon.


NCAA WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Western Washington Cross Country Classic pre-regionals
Saturday, October 23, 2010
6 kilometers at East Lake Padden Park/Bellingham, Wash.

Team scores – 1, Alaska Anchorage 42; 2, Club Northwest 49; 3, University of Victoria 53; 4, Western Washington 88; 5, Seattle Pacific 171; 6, Humboldt State 189; 7, Saint Martin's 222; 8, Central Washington 231; 9, Northwest University 259; 10, Alaska Fairbanks 273; 11, Academy of Art (Calif.) 295; 12, Trinity Western (B.C.) 332.
Top 5 – 1, Sarah Porter (WWU) 20:59.3; 2, Miriam Kipng'eno (UAA) 21:10.2; 3, Ruth Keino (UAA) 21:13.9; 4, Claudia Copeland (Club NW) 21:37.5; 5, Rose Wetzel (Club NW) 21:51.0. SPU placers – 24, Natty Plunkett 23:10.3; 29, Alli Cutting 23:37.1; 35, McKayla Fricker 23:48.6; 59, Krysta Carrick 24:54.7; 63, Laura Moser 25:05.2; 71, Josie Becker 25:33.2; 75, Kelsey Brown 25:46.7; 82, Megan Knape 26:09.1; 89, Leah Swanson 26:23.2; 103, Jenifer Pike 27:27.0.



NCAA MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Western Washington Cross Country Classic pre-regionals
Saturday, October 23, 2010
10 kilometers at East Lake Padden Park/Bellingham, Wash.

Team scores – 1, Alaska Anchorage 33; 2, Western Washington 65; 3, University of Victoria 96; 4, Club Northwest 104; 5, Humboldt State 126; 6, Academy of Art (Calif.) 162; 7, Saint Martin's 190; 8, Seattle Pacific 207; 9, Central Washington 225; 10, Alaska Fairbanks 283; 11, Trinity Western (B.C.) 323.
Top 5 – 1, Marko Cheseto (UAA) 30:41.1; 2, Micah Chelimo (UAA) 31:15.5; 3, Jordan Welling (WWU) 31:25.1; 4, Amos Maru (Acad. Art) 31:30.7; 5, Bennett Grimes (WWU) 31:33.6. SPU placers – 43, Nate Sleight 33:57.4; 50, Andrew Van Ness 34:24.1; 56, Daniel Hamilton 34:42.4; 58, AJ Baker 34:44.7; 73, Gavin Brand 35:19.3; 83, Nate Seely 35:48.0; 86, Jordan Lance 36:02.7; 89, Nicholaus Schonewald 36:21.3; 93, Andrew Rae 36:31.1; 107, Josiah Sherwood 37:46.6; 109, Stephen York 37:52.7; 116, Matt Edel 39:28.3.