Complete results (PDF)
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SALEM, Ore. – Everyone who had watched her run knew that
Heidi Laabs-Johnson had it within her to lead the Seattle Pacific cross country pack.
On Saturday morning, she proved them right.
Laabs-Johnson (Salt Lake City) went started strong and kept it going all the way to a 10th-place finish at the 37th annual Charles Bowles Invitational. The former Falcon soccer player, in her first year of cross country, finished the 5 kilometers that began in Bush's Pasture Park and ended on the track in McCulloch stadium in 18 minutes, 20.19 seconds, leading SPU to sixth place among the 16 teams with 175 points.
“I've tried to go out faster and trust that I can hold that pace and that I'm strong enough to stick with that pack,” said Laabs-Johnson, whose time on Saturday not only was a PR for a 5K cross country race, but was faster than her fastest 5K time of 18:27.54 on the track. “The first 100 or 200, it was a pretty fast pace, and I started picking people off from there. If there was a girl in front of me, it wasn't just keeping her in my sight. It was catching her and passing her.”
Senior
Natty Plunkett (Bellevue, Wash./Newport HS) was close behind, clocking 18:28.11 to take 23rd. Her time also was a cross country PR for 5K. (Her track best is 17:24.43).
“The combination of a brand-new course (for me) and a lot of competition and the 5K distance made it seem really different and shorter for sure,” Plunkett said. “I ended up with almost a 20-second PR, so that was really positive. I felt like I didn't go as fast as I should have, but I was still really happy with it.”
The entire Seattle Pacific scoring pack was in the finish chute within 45 seconds of each other. Sophomore
McKayla Fricker (Canby, Ore.) was the third Falcon across and 46th overall in 18:49.63; redshirt freshman
Robyn Zeidler (Plymouth, Minn.) was 54th in 18:56.68, and freshman
Jasmine Johnson (Federal Way, Wash./Federal Way HS) took 63rd in 19:04.85.
Sophomore
Alli Cutting (Sequim, Wash./Sequim HS), running her first race of the year after coming off health issues, kept the entire six-woman Falcon team within a minute of each other. Cutting was 71st in 19:12.15.
“I felt like all of them ran strong,” SPU coach Erika Daligcon said. “It was nice to see Heidi racing like she did and like I knew she could. Natty had a PR, and I felt like it was a good race for McKayla.
As expected, West Region No. 1 Chico State won with 43 points. The only other Division II team ahead of SPU was Cal Baptist, and that was by a single point. The Lancers took fifth with 174. Seattle Pacific easily finished ahead of Great Northwest Athletic Conference rivals Northwest Nazarene (11th with 323) and Central Washington (16th with 456).
The meet format put all three NCAA divisions into the same race.
The showing represented a significant improvement for Seattle Pacific over last year's performance at the Bowles. The Falcons were a distant 21st with 553 points in 2010.
NCAA WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Charles Bowles Invitational
Saturday, October 1, 2011
5 kilometers at Bush's Pasture Park and McCulloch Stadium / Salem, Ore.
Team scores – 1, Chico State 43; 2, Santa Clara 72; 3, Protland 85; 4, Lewis & Clark 125; 5, Cal Baptist 174;
6, Seattle Pacific 175; 7, Whitman 193;8, San Jose State 199; 9, Willamette 202; 10, Linfield 267; 11, Northwest Nazarene 323; 12, Whitworth 325; 13, UC Santa Cruz 347; 14, Puget Sound 385; 15, Pacific Luthern 407; 16, Central Washington 456.
Top 10 – 1, Alia Gray (Cico) 17:50.55; 2, Amy Schnittger (Chico) 17:52.45; 3 Illana Livstrom (L&C) 17:56.89; 4, Emily Thomas (L&C) 18:10.81; 5, Katie Spencer (Chico) 18:15.76; 6, Slaine Kelly (Port) 18:16.29; 7, Mary Kreige (S. Clara) 18:17.10; 8, Mary Reynolds (S. Clara) 18:17.77; 9, Emilie Gilbert (Whitman) 18:19.42; 10,
Heidi Laabs-Johnson (SPU) 18:20.19.
Other SPU placers – 23,
Natty Plunkett 18:28.11; 46,
McKayla Fricker 18:49.63; 54,
Robyn Zeidler 18:56.68; 63,
Jasmine Johnson 19:04.85; 71,
Alli Cutting 19:12.15.
Emerald City Open
Saturday, October 1, 2011
6 kilometers at Lower Woodland Park / Seattle, Wash.
Team scores -- 1, Seattle University 20; 2, Seattle Running Club 41; Seattle Pacific and all others incomplete.
Winner -- Elise Egseth (Unattached) 22:35.
SPU placers -- 16,
Alexis Fynboe 25:44; 17,
Elizabeth Doe 25:47; 19,
Josie Becker 26:41.
