BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Between now and November, the Seattle Pacific Falcons are going to be seeing plenty national- and regional-caliber cross country competition.
On Saturday morning, they got a clear idea of what that's going to look like.
Annika Esvelt ran to a top-20 finish, and the SPU women took seventh place as a team at the Bill Roe WWU Classic at Sudden Valley Golf Course.
Among the 10 teams at the meet were national No. 5-ranked Chico State and No. 17 Simon Fraser, one of SPU's Great Northwest Athletic Conference rivals. Those two teams also are ranked 1-2 in the West Region, albeit with Simon occupying the top spot. Host school Western Washington is ranked No. 8 in the West,
The Falcons totaled 176 points. Simon Fraser, generally regarded at the team to beat in the GNAC, won easily with 41 points. The team has won all three of its meets this season. Chico State wound up third with 102, with Club Northwest tucked in between with 82. Former Falcon star Jane Larson (now Ricardi) finished ninth. WWU was fifth with 110, tied with Alaska Fairbanks of the GNAC.
Chris Reed
"Big races are different than some of the smaller early-season meets. The biggest thing now is they've done this race and they've seen this level of competition," Falcons associate head coach / distance coach
Chris Reed said. "We saw the top two teams in the region, we saw the No. 8 team in the region, we saw some other good teams.
"We now have some context with which to prepare," Reed added. "We can visualize things a little better and understand what we need to do from a preparation standpoint.
Esvelt completed 6 kilometers (three loops around the mostly-flat 2,000-meter) layout in 23 minutes, 8.6 seconds, good for 19
th place. Fellow sophomore
Ellie Rising ran No. 2 for the Falcons and 28
th overall in 23:27.6.
"It was really nice to see Annika stick her nose in with the top group," Reed said. "She kind of paid for it at the end, but I was pleased to see her have the confidence to do it."
True freshman
Nicki Yorges and junior
Kelsey Washenberger stuck close together throughout and finished that way in 43
rd and 44
th overall. Senior Elizabeth, racing for the first time this season after missing the first three meets with an injury, rounded out the scoring.
"We still have a young team," Reed said. "But we definitely saw some positive things.".
In the 10-kilometer men's race, senior Colin Boutin was the only Falcon entered. He placed 57
th in 34:28.1.
UP NEXT
The postseason begins in two weeks on Saturday, Oct. 23, with the GNAC Championships at Saint Martin's in Lacey. The men's 8K race starts at 10:00 a.m., followed by the women's 6K at 11:00 a.m.
NCAA WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Bill Roe WWU Classic
Saturday, Oct. 9, 2021
6 kilometers at Sudden Valley Golf Course / Bellingham, Wash.
Team scores – 1, Simon Fraser 41; 2, Club Northwest 82; 3, Chico State 102; 4, Alaska Fairbanks 110; 5, Western Washington 110 (UAF 4
th on tiebreaker); 6, Bellingham Distance Project 163;
7, Seattle Pacific 176; 8, Northwest Nazarene 192; 9, Central Washington 246; 10, San Francisco State 252.
Top 5 – 1, Amelia Keyser-Gibson (Unattached) 21:39.2; 2, Olivia Willett (Simon) 21:48.6; 3, Sally Crowther 22:00.0; 4, Rosie Fordham (UAF) 22:06.6; 5, Ashley Maton (Unattached) 22:08.2.
SPU – 19,
Annika Esvelt 23:08.6; 28,
Ellie Rising 23:27.6; 43,
Nicki Yorges 23:58.9; 44,
Kelsey Washenberger 24:00.3; 79,
Elizabeth Thompson 26:17.2; 93,
McKenzie Fletcher 33:02.1.
NCAA MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Bill Roe WWU Classic
Saturday, Oct. 9, 2021
10 kilometers at Sudden Valley Golf Course / Bellingham, Wash.
Team scores – 1, Chico State 31; 2, Western Washington 63; 3, Simon Fraser 65; 4, Club Northwest 108; 5, San Francisco State 151; 6, Central Washington 175; 7, Northwest Nazarene 191; 8, WWU Alumni 213; 9, Run 26 289; 10, Alaska Fairbanks 289 (Run 26 is 9
th on tiebreaker); 11, Seattle Running Club 326.
Top 5 – 1, Tom Anderson (Club NW) 30:55.2; 2, Miler Haller (SS Track Club) 31:08.0; 3, Aaron Ahl (Simon) 31:31.9; 4, Brayden McLaughlin (Chico) 31:35.6; 5, Callahan Warren (Unattached) 31:43.9.
SPU – 57, Colin Boutin 34:28.1. No other SPU.
