Complete results (PDF)

 YAKIMA – The Seattle Pacific Falcons get to race another day.
 
Seniors Natty Plunkett and Heidi Laabs-Johnson came from back in the pack a ways to finish to finish side by side in the top 10, and redshirt freshman Robyn Zeidler came up with the best race of her career on Saturday as the Falcons ran to a region-qualifying fifth-place finish in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference cross country championship meet.
 
The Falcons, ranked eighth in the West Region this week, wound up with 110 points in a meet won handily by Alaska Anchorage with 31.
 
By finishing No. 5, the Falcons guaranteed themselves a trip to Spokane in two weeks for the NCAA Division II West Regionals at Plantes Ferry Park. The meet is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 5, with a 10:30 a.m. start for the 6-kilometer race.
 





“I'm really pleased and feel like they all ran well out there today,” head coach Erika Daligcon said. “Now, we have a few more schools in particular that we'd like to after, so it'll be fun to see what we can do. We have a few more sharpening workouts, then we'll head over to Spokane.”
 
Plunkett (Bellevue, Wash./Newport HS) made the top 10 and earned all-conference honors for the third time in her four years. She also was seventh as a freshman and ninth last year. Her time on Saturday was 22 minutes, 44 seconds for the 6K loop, exactly the same as she ran a year ago.
 
“I was happy with it. I felt super-calm beforehand, and just having the maturity and the experience, and the fact that I like this course – there was nothing to be afraid of,” Plunkett said. “It was good to have that feeling. The finish was exciting. From the three-mile (mark) to the end, it was clear that I was going to be easily in the top 10, and that puts some pressure on you, but that's how it should be. Working with Heidi at the end was really exciting.”
 
Laabs-Johnson (Salt Lake City), the former SPU soccer player who switched to cross country this year, was stride-for-stride with Plunkett coming down the finish chute and was barely out-leaned by Plunkett at the finish line. Laabs-Johnson's time also was 22:44.
 
“The first mile, they were a little bit slower than they had anticipated being, but they worked their way up again,” Daligcon said of Plunkett and Laabs-Johnson. “I felt the team worked well together.”
 
In addition to All-GNAC, Laabs-Johnson earned the conference's Newcomer of the Year award, given to the highest-finishing sophomore, junior or senior who is competing in the GNAC meet for the first year.
 





After an injury-hampered 2010 season, Zeidler showed throughout the season what she is capable of doing, and that was especially true on Saturday. She was 31^st at the mile mark and moved all the way up to 22^nd by the finish line, crossing No. 3 for the Falcons in 23:30.
 
Laabs-Johnson and Plunkett were both just inside the top 30 at the mile mark, with Laabs-Johnson 25^th and Plunkett 29^th. Then, just s they did at the Sundodger Invitational last month in Seattle, the started picking off runners one at a time.

Approaching the two-mile mark, Laabs-Johnson was 15th, and Plunkett 20th. Just beyond that mark, Laabs-Johnson had moved up to ninth, and Plunkett was 13th, with Zeidler 26th.

Sophomore Alli Cutting (Sequim, Wash./Sequim HS) and sophomore McKayla Fricker (Canby, Ore.) took care of the rest of Seattle Pacific's scoring by finishing 39th and 40th in 24:14 and 24:15, respectively.
 
Ruth Keino of Alaska Anchorage had the race to herself most of the day, winning easily by 13 seconds in 21:26. Simon Fraser's Jessica Smith was second in 21:39.


NCAA WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
GNAC Championships
Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011
6 kilometers (3.72 miles) at Apple Ridge Run / Yakima, Wash.
 
Team scores – 1, Alaska Anchorage 31; 2, Simon Fraser 76; 3, Western Washington 87; 4, Alaska Fairbanks 97; 5, Seattle Pacific 110; 6, Northwest Nazarene 173; 7, Western Oregon 196; 8, Montana State Billings 234; 9, Saint Martin's 236; 10, Central Washington 269.
Top 10 – 1, Ruth Keino (UAA) 21:26; 2, Jessica Smith (SFU) 21:39; 32, Miriam Kipng'eno (UAA) 22:12; 4, Ivy O'Guinn (UAA) 22:24; 5, Lindsey Butterworth (SFU) 22:36; 6, Thersia Schnurr (UAF) 22:44; 7, Natty Plunkett (SPU 22:44; 8, Heidi Laabs-Johnson (SPU) 22:44; 9, Lauren Breihof (WWU) 22:45; 10, Whitney Mickelsen (MSUB) 22:51.
Other SPU placers – 22, Robyn Zeidler 23:30; 39, Alli Cutting 24:14; 40, McKayla Fricker 24:15; 42, Jasmine Johnson 24:19; 49, Josie Becker 24:56; 61, Elizabeth Doe 25:32; 71, Alexis Fynboe 26:03.