MONMOUTH, Ore. – One year. Ten months. One day.
That's how long it had been since
Annika Esvelt last ran a cross country race.
On Friday afternoon, Esvelt once again felt the grass under the soles of her shoes in a competitive situation.
Leading the chase pack behind a pair of Western Oregon frontrunners, Esvelt came across the finish line in third place for Seattle Pacific at the Ash Creek Invitational.
A sophomore academically with freshman eligibility after the 2020 season was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, Esvelt completed 4 kilometers at Ash Creek Preserve in 14 minutes, 12.3 seconds. She and
Ellie Rising, also a sophomore with freshman eligibility, put together a 3-4 finish, as Rising clocked 14:29.5.
Esvelt competed for SPU on the track last spring and enjoyed a certain level of success, placing seventh in the 1500 meters at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships
Chris Reed
"She had a relatively tough freshman year – it can be a tough transition," Falcons associate head coach / distance coach
Chris Reed said. "She had a really nice GNAC Championships (for track) to send her off into the summer with optimism and confidence, and she ran with it. She came out this fall so much more confident, and it showed in the race today."
Esvelt's last cross country meet prior to Friday was the Class 2A Washington state championship meet on Nov. 9, 2019, representing West Valley-Spokane High School. She placed 20th that day, leading her team to the fourth-place trophy.
Her already-delayed college debut was supposed to be last Saturday at the season-opening Puget Sound Invitational. But when the Falcons had two of their six team members out with injuries, they elected to hold off until Ash Creek.
They still were missing those two runners this week. Even so, Reed decided to give the others an opportunity to get that first race in, and they made the most of it.
"It was a lot of fun and exciting to be out there," Esvelt said. "I felt really good. I feel like I'm probably in the best shape that I've ever been in. I had a really good summer of training and I feel like I'm finally able to show that to people. It felt good out there, and I'm excited to do more races."
Joining Esvelt and Rising in the top 10 was
Kelsey Washenberger, an academic senior with sophomore eligibility. She was seventh in 14:40.2. True freshman
Nicki Yorges made her college debut with a 16th-place finish in 15:06.0.
"For Annika and Ellie to finish top-5 was awesome, and Kelsey nearly did," Reed said. "
Nicki Yorges is a freshman and ran with a lot of poise and competed extremely well."
A BIG STEP FORWARD FOR MEN
For the second week in a row, Colin Boutin was at the front of the pack for the SPU men. He placed 11th in 19:07.9. That was 26 seconds faster than the 19:34.0 he ran for 6 kilometers at last Saturday's Puget Sound meet.
The Falcons took fifth place among the 10 competing teams with 146 points.
Boutin wasn't the only one with a faster time for the same distance than a week ago. Redshirt freshman Jon Owen (32 seconds), and true freshmen Ben Sheirbon (78 seconds), Gabe Endresen (43 seconds) and Gabe Woodard (32 seconds) all were quicker across the line.
"The big thing with the guys is they definitely improved from last week," Reed said. "We saw just a little more confidence and competitiveness from them. It was good to see improvement and that they could turn around six days later and apply some of the things they learned last week into the race this week."
UP NEXT
Seattle Pacific concludes a stretch of three straight weekends of racing next Saturday at the
PLU Open in Tacoma. Racing at the on-campus Pacific Lutheran course starts with the women's 6K at 11:00 a.m., followed by the men's 8K at 11:45.
NCAA WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Ash Creek Invitational
Friday, Sept. 10, 2021
4 kilometers at Ash Creek Preserve / Monmouth, Ore.
Team scores – 1, George Fox 29; 2, Western Oregon 58; 3, Lane CC 74; 4, Linfield 98; 5, Pierce College 135; 6, Chemeketa CC 173; 7, Umpqua CC 182; Seattle Pacific incomplete.
Top 5 – 1, Luz Garcia (WOU) 13:59.3; 2, Caitlin Heldt (WOU) 14:03.7; 3,
Annika Esvelt (SPU) 14:12.3; 4,
Ellie Rising (SPU) 14:29.5; 5, Jessie Bailey (George Fox) 14:32.3.
Other SPU – 7,
Kelsey Washenberger 14:40.2; 16,
Nicki Yorges 15:06.0.
NCAA MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Ash Creek invitational
Friday, Sept. 10, 2021
6 kilometers at Ash Creek Preserve / Monmouth, Ore.
Team scores – 1, George Fox 36; 2, Western Oregon 63; 3, Lane CC 93; 4, Willamette 93 (Lane 3
rd on tiebreaker);
5, Seattle Pacific 146; 6, Linfield 151; 7, Everett CC 201; 8, Clark College 209; 9, Southwestern Oregon CC 230; 10, Umpqua CC 273.
Top 5 – 1, Kenau Daos (WOU) 18:22.1; 2, Justin Crosswhite (Unattached) 18:38.8; 3 Wiley Watts (Lane) 18:45.1; 4, Logan Auxier (Lane) 18:48.7; 5, Peter Weiss (George Fox) 18:57.0.
SPU placers – 11, Colin Boutin 19:07.9; 30, Jon Owen 19:38.7; 34, Ben Sheirbon 19:55.4; 55, Gabe Endresen 20:32.9; 78, Isaiah Archer 21:47.8; 91, Gabe Woodard 22:43.6.
