Complete results (PDF)

FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Seattle Pacific men figure they just might be able to make people take notice of them during the 2011 cross country season.

They sure got noticed in Alaska on Thursday.

For the second straight year, SPU's Natty Plunkett got noticed, too.

Plunkett raced to her second consecutive Nanook Invite women's long-course crown. The Seattle Pacific senior (Bellevue, Wash./Newport HS) won by 10 seconds to help the Falcons finish in the middle of the three-team pack with 42 points. Fairbanks won with 33, and Billings was third with 51.

Redshirt senior Jacob Wahlenmaier led a 2-3-4 finish, and the Falcon men wound up with the day's low total of 27 points to sweep a season-opening Alaska Nanook Invitational long-course meet at the West Ridge Ski Trails. Montana State Billings finished second with 37, and host Alaska Fairbanks was third with 59.

Plunkett took the lead at about the 4-kilometer mark of the women's 6K race. She came across the line in 22:59, well in front of second-place Whitney Mickelsen of Billings.

“She was sitting (on the leader's) shoulder, and was in prime position to make her move,” Daligcon said.

Juniort Heidi Laabs-Johnson (Salt Lake City), out for her first season of cross country after previously playing soccer for the Falcons, was No. 2 for SPU and sixth overall in 23:32. Other top-10 finishers for Seattle Pacific were sophomore veteran Alli Cutting (Sequim, Wash./Sequim HS) in ninth, and sophomore McKayla Fricker (Canby, Ore.) in 10th.

Last year, the SPU men wound up third in the long –course meet with 51 points. Led by Wahlenmaier (Everett, Wash./Cascade HS), who came back for his final season of competition, they improved their position significantly.

Wahlenmaier finished the 8K course in 26 minutes, 37 seconds in a race won handily by MSUB junior Brian Potter in 26:16. Right on Wahlenmaier's heels was SPU junior Will Harrison (Tucson, Ariz.) in 26:37.8, and freshman Jordan Wolfe (Bend, Ore.) was fourth in 26:52.

Harrison's time was an improvement of 16 seconds from last year, when he finished second in the long-course race. Wahlenmaier did not run in Alaska in 2010.

“That was real fun to watch,” Falcons coach Erika Daligcon said. “I was standing at the 4K mark, and the guys came through in a tight little pack. The guy who was in front led the whole time, but then I just saw my little train of Falcons, and I really felt like they were running within themselves. They looked very relaxed and controlled, and they knew what they were doing and were going to stick with it.”

All five SPU scorers finished among the top 10. Freshman Alex Horton (Kent, Wash./Kentridge HS) was eighth in 27:30.8, and junior AJ Baker (AuGres, Mich.) took 10th in 27:51.

The short-course competition is Saturday at 11 a.m. PDT. The Falcon men won the short-course crown last year.


NCAA WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Alaska Nanook Invitational Long Course
Thursday, September 1, 2011
West Ridge Ski Trails/Fairbanks, Alaska

Team scores – 1, Alaska Fairbanks 33; 2, Seattle Pacific 42; 3, Montana State Billings 51.

Winner – 1, Natty Plunkett (SPU) 22:59. Other SPU placers – 6, Heidi Laabs-Johnson 23:32; 9, Alli Cutting 24:33; 10, McKayla Fricker 24:41; 16, Josie Becker 26:08.


NCAA MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Alaska Nanook Invitational Long Course
Thursday, September 1, 2011
West Ridge Ski Trails/Fairbanks, Alaska

Team scores – 1, Seattle Pacific 27; 2, Montana State Billings 37; 3, Alaska Fairbanks 59.

Winner – Brian Potter (MSUB) 26:16. SPU placers – 2, Jacob Wahlenmaier 26:37; 3, Will Harrison 26:37.8; 4, Jordan Wolfe 26:52.6; 8, Alex Horton 27:30.8; 10, AJ Baker 27:51; 13, Nathanael Sleight 28:01.4.