THE SCHEDULE:       Seattle Pacific at NCAA Division II Championships
                                        Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015
                                        Women's 6K, 8:00 a.m.    Men's 10K, 9:15 a.m. PST
                                        Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course / Joplin, Mo.
                                        Live Webcast        Live results
               
        Weekly release (PDF)
 
SEATTLE – For maybe 20 minutes or so after the NCAA West Regional cross country meet, the Seattle Pacific women were starting to wonder how they might fill an empty space of time when Nov. 21 rolled around on the calendar.
 
Then, they got the answer that sent them into surprised celebration:
 
They would fill it by running one more race.
 
In the Falcons' case, that one more race is the NCAA Division II national championships, set for Saturday morning on Missouri Southern State University's Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course. SPU and 31 other schools, plus a handful of individual qualifiers, will step to the starting line at 8:00 a.m. Pacific time.
 
At the end of the 6 kilometers, the top four teams will receive trophies, and the top 40 individuals will be declared All-Americans.
 
This marks the third time in the past four seasons and the 16^th time overall that the Falcons have raced at the NCAA meet. Seattle Pacific's program has 19 all-time national appearances, with the first three of those (1979, 1980, and 1981) under the auspices of the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, the forerunner to the NCAA taking over sponsorship.
 
SPU placed 21^st at its most recent nationals, 2013 in Spokane.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Fans wanting to keep track of the race as it progresses will be able to do so through two different platforms.
 
The race will be streamed live by clicking on this link. The link also is available by going on to www.ncaasports.com, clicking on the Video link at the top of the page, and then by clicking on "NCAA Championships Live."
 
Live results also will be available through Prime Time Timing by clicking on this link. Not only are final results provided, results are updated in real time as the race progresses. That makes it easy to follow individual runners and the team scores, which also are updated regularly.
 
ABUNDANT SUNSHINE; WARMTH, NOT SO MUCH
The Falcons and their fellow competitors won't get wet on Saturday. However, neither will they warm up much, at least not until they start running.
 
With Friday's overnight lows hovering around 30 degrees, and the forecast calling for a high of the low to mid 40s on Saturday, the athletes might be racing in sub-40 degree temperatures. If so, that would be the coldest race all year for SPU. However, skies are expected to be completely clear both Friday and Saturday.
 
SPU won't find things much warmer in Kansas City, MO., where they are staying. Lows there on Friday night also are expected to be in the range of 30 degrees.
 
SQUEEZING IN – BUT THEY'RE IN
Seattle Pacific was the fifth and final qualifying team to emerge from the NCAA West Regionals on Nov. 7 at Monmouth, Ore., finishing with 207 points. That was five points ahead of Great Northwest Athletic Conference rival Central Washington's 212 for the last set of tickets to Missouri.
 
Initially, the Falcons figured they had missed the cut, since scores in the 200s – even the very low 200s – usually don't make it. The one thing they knew for sure was that senior Anna Patti was advancing, as she finished fourth individually.
 
But given the quality and depth of the West Region, three of the five qualifying teams had scores above 200 points: Alaska Anchorage (201) and Cal Baptist (203), followed by SPU's 207.
 
The team members got the news as they were finishing a cool-down run around Ash Creek Preserve.





SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- For Falcon seniors Anna Patti and Lynelle Decker, this will be their second race on the Tom Rutledge course. SPU qualified for nationals in 2012 when they were freshmen.
-- In that race, Decker finished No. 4 four SPU and 122nd overall in 22 minutes, 34.6 seconds. Patti was the sixth Falcon across the line and was 132nd overall in 22:38.7.
-- SPU's top finisher and time in the 2012 meet was Katie Thralls, who took 44th in 21:28.2.
-- The 40th and final All-American time was 21:23.2. It took a 21:08.2 for top 25, and 21:06.0 for top 20.
-- Seattle Pacific has had 16 cross country All-Americans. The most recent one was Jessica Pixler in 2009 when she won the last of her three consecutive NCAA championships.
 
WOMEN'S PREVIEW
This is the 35th year of the Division II championship meet, and in the first 34, a grand total of six schools have won it all.
 
That "select six" includes Grand Valley State of Michigan. The Lakers have won the last three titles, four of the last five, and are ranked No. 1 nationally as they head to Missouri.
 
But lurking right behind them is perennial power Adams State of Alamosa, Colo. The Grizzlies have 15 titles altogether, including strings of eight in a row (1992-99) and seven straight (2003-09).
 
Grand Valley had its hands full in the Midwest Regional, winning by just 18 points ahead of Hillsdale (Mich.). Adams State, on the other hand, easily won the South Central Regional, going 3-4-5-6-10 (9 for scoring purposes) and beating Colorado rival Western State, 27-56.
 
The goal for Seattle Pacific is to be somewhere among the top 20 teams – and that's a reasonably attainable goal.

 

For one thing, the Falcons are hoping to start with a very low scoring number from senior Anna Patti. She finished fourth at the GNAC Championships, and knew she hadn't run her best race. At regionals two weeks later, Patti (Renton, Wash. / Lindbergh HS) did run her best race and finished fourth among the entire talented West field. A top-40 spot and All-American is well within her reach, but she realistically has a chance to finish much higher than that.
 
It's behind Patti where SPU has a chance to make a serious impact.

 

Junior Sarah Macdonald (Tucson, Ariz.) was a solid No. 2 behind Patti through the regular season. A cold slowed her down considerably at GNAC, but Macdonald bounced back very nicely at regionals, finishing No. 3 for SPU and 42nd overall.
 
Beginning with the Charles Bowles Invitational in Salem on Oct. 3, and continuing through the postseason, sophomore Mary Charleson (Mill Creek, Wash. / Henry M. Jackson HS) has been delivering big-time performances. She was No. 3 for the Falcons at the Bowles, and No. 2 at both GNACs and regionals. She was 20that conference – then two weeks later was 20th among everyone in the West (and No. 8 among GNAC runners in that meet).

 

Macdonald and Charleson are at the front of a SeaPac pack that has run well together all fall. Senior Lynelle Decker (Vancouver, Wash. / Mountain View HS), junior Hannah Calvert (Enumclaw, Wash. / Enumclaw HS), and sophomores Chynna Phan (Bellingham, Wash. / Mt. Baker HS) and Jessica Rawlins (Mill Creek, Wash. / Henry M. Jackson HS) all have been among the scoring five in this season's six meets.
 
All six of those runners have been a top-5 scorer in either GNAC or West Regionals (Charleson and Calvert in both).
 
SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
Assistant coach Audra Smith says …
(On training since regionals)
"We have been pretty simplified, and it has been that way for about a month now. We've recycled some workouts, and when you do that, you win the day, for sure. This team has some upside. They're only getting better."

 

(On the possibilities at nationals)
"The performance that they had to do at regionals to get to nationals, they did it – and it was hard. But now they know what they have to do to go be competitive, and they know what it feels like and where they have to finish. I think we can go in and surprise ourselves. But they're ready for the meet, they're excited for it, and they know they deserve to be there."
 
(On what's possible for Anna Patti)
"She can go be an All-American, of course. She will go give it everything she has, she'll finish on all fours … She will lay everything out there. I think it's that sense of urgency. She knows it's her last opportunity in cross country to do that. I have no doubt that she'll put that together."
 
Assistant coach Chris Reed says …
(On getting ready for the meet)
"We're all really excited for the opportunity not just to go, but to show ourselves and perhaps show other people what we're capable of on a national level. We talked early in the season before first race of not just making the meet, but making an impact at the meet."

 

(On carrying over momentum  from regionals)
"Our group's confidence is at an all-time high right now. We all know how tough the West Region is. There are some really good teams who would have had a shot to finish in the top 20 at this meet, and they're sitting at home. Knowing we've accomplished the feat of getting out of the West has fueled our confidence to compete with really good teams at the national level."
 
(On sticking with what works in practice)
"I think a lot of coaches, going into big meets, try to change things or tinker with things because it's the big meet. But ultimately, if you're going to succeed, you have to back to what got you there in the first place. Our team is a good team, and they showed that to themselves two weeks ago (at regionals)."
 
HMM … THIS PLACE LOOKS FAMILIAR
Saturday's races will be the fourth time the Division II national championship meet has been run on the Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course – and  a Falcon women's team has been here all four times.
 
In 1999, under the tutelage of legendary coach Doris Heritage, Seattle Pacific finished sixth among the 17 teams with 221 points. Heather Wallace was the first Falcon across the line, placing 31st in 22:04.
 
The meet returned in 2007, and so did SPU, with Heritage still at the coaching helm. Jessica Pixler, then a sophomore, won the first of her three straight titles, covering the 6 kilometers in 20 minutes, 29 seconds. Fellow sophomore Jane Larson also cracked the top 10, placing ninth, and the Falcons brought home the second-place trophy with 178 points.
 
Seattle Pacific also was in the 2012 meet. Led by the 44th-place finish of Katie Thralls in 21:28.2, the Erika Daligcon-coached Falcons placed 17th of 32 teams with 393 points.
 
AN XC COURSE – AND NOTHING ELSE
Most races – even the biggest ones – are run either in parks or on golf courses.
 
But this one will take place on a course specifically designed for cross country, and one that has been the site of many national-caliber meets, from the Junior Olympics to the NCAAs.
 
The 5,000-meter layout is entirely on the grass. Out of the starting line is a slight downhill grade of approximately 70 meters. After that, it's a mixture of light uphills and light downhills. The longest uphill stretch is 295 meters at about 1 ¼ miles into the race. Just beyond that is the longest downhill portion, measuring 285 meters.
 
Only three entirely flat stretches are woven into the route: a very early one of 110 meters, another one of 150 just before the mile, and one of 250 meters just past the 4K marker.
 
The course will have some tweaks, given that the women's race is 6,000 meters, and the men's is 10,000.





BEEN AROUND THAT BLOCK
Of the seven SPU women racing on Saturday, five have been to at least one NCAA championship event.
 
Senior Lynelle Decker is by far and away the leader in that department. This is her ninth national meet in 10 competitive seasons (four cross country, three indoor track, three outdoor track). Anna Patti will be in her third cross country nationals. She also has been to a pair of national track meets, running on the distance medley at 2015 indoor, and then racing in the 5,000 meters outdoors this past May.
 
Hannah Calvert and Sarah Macdonald were on the 2013 national-qualifying cross country team that raced in Spokane.
 
Jessica Rawlins was the leadoff runner on the DMR that competed at nationals in March.
 
Mary Charleson and Chynna Phan are the national newbies among the seven squad members.
 
MAYBE A GOOD OMEN FOR CHARLESON
Not even Mary Charleson was expecting it. But under a tent cover in a rainstorm at Monmouth, Ore., two weeks ago, the SPU sophomore's name was called out over the microphone as one of the female runners to earn an All-West Region award as presented by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).


 

Those awards go to the top 25 finishers in the race, and Charleson, thanks to a late surge, came across the line in 20^th. She was the No. 2 Falcon behind Anna Patti.
 
Two years ago when the regional meet was in Spokane, it was Patti doing something very similar. A sophomore then just as Charleson is now, Patti finished 14th, placing No. 2 for Seattle Pacific behind McKayla Fricker. That performance played a big role in getting the Falcons into nationals, much like Charleson's did this year.
 
The good omen? That became the first of many big races for Patti, both on the trails and on the track. Charleson, of course, is hoping for exactly the same thing.
 
POLLING PLACE: FALCONS ARE BACK
The rankings certainly didn't make any difference two weeks ago at the West Regional meet. SPU was No. 9 in the West and had fallen out of the national top 25. Yet, the Falcons beat out four of the teams ahead of them – No. 5 UC San Diego, No. 6 Cal State San Bernardino, No. 7 Azusa Pacific, and No. 8 Central Washington – to grab the last available national spot.
 
In fact, Seattle Pacific was the only team to make a move like that. The top four ranked team – Chico State, Alaska Anchorage, Cal Baptist, and Western Washington – didn't finish in exactly that order, but they were still the top four. (It went Chico, Western, Anchorage, and Cal Baptist).
 
The West rankings are done for the year, but the final pre-meet national rankings came out last Wednesday (Nov. 11), and the Falcons are back on it, tied with Harding of Texas for No. 20. Grand Valley State, Adams State, Hillsdale (Mich.) and Chico remained 1-2-3-4.
 
Come Saturday morning, the only rankings that really count will be the order of finish in the race. And this time, SPU will be rooting hard for its West rivals. In addition to three automatic berths to nationals, each region is awarded one additional slot for each team that finishes in the top eight at NCAAs. Chico, Western, and Anchorage all have legitimate chances to place that high.
 
ON THE HONOR ROLL
Hannah Calvert: GNAC All-Academic.
Mary Charleson: USTFCCCA All-West Region, GNAC All-Academic.
Lynelle Decker: GNAC All-Academic.
Hailey Kettel: GNAC All-Academic.
Sarah Macdonald: GNAC All-Academic.
Anna Patti: GNAC Female Runner of the Week (Sept. 8, Sept. 21), All-GNAC, USTFCCCA All-West Region, GNAC All-Academic.
Chynna Phan: GNAC All-Academic.
Jessica Rawlins: GNAC All-Academic.
Kiley Zeitler: GNAC All-Academic.
 
UP NEXT
This is it for cross country season. The athletes who have not been training for this meet have joined the rest of the Falcons in getting ready for indoor track and field. That tightly-packed schedule begins on Saturday, Jan. 16 with the UW Indoor Preview. Competition at Dempsey Indoor on the University of Washington campus. A starting time has not yet been posted.
 
SPU will compete in four meets at Dempsey. The UW Invitational is Friday and Saturday, Jan. 29-30; the Husky Classic is Friday and Saturday, Feb. 12-13, and the UW Indoor Open is Sunday, Feb. 14. The GNAC Championships are Feb. 19-20 at the Idaho Center Jackson's Track facility in Nampa.