THE SCHEDULE                                
Saturday, Oct. 25                 Seattle Pacific at GNAC Championships
                                                Men's 8K, 10:00 a.m.          Women's 6K, 11;00 a.m.
                                                Sudden Valley Golf & Country Club / Bellingham, Wash.
                                                No live Webcast        Live results 


SEATTLE – All season long, the Seattle Pacific Falcons have felt they have the pieces to be part of the conversation for a trip to the NCAA cross country nationals.
 
The next two meets will be their chance to deliver that message loud and clear.
 
SPU's first opportunity to do so will come on Saturday morning when they make the trek to Bellingham for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships.
 
Competition will be at Sudden Valley Golf Course, east of the city. The men's 8-kilometer race leaves the starting line at 10:00 a.m., followed by the women's 6K at 11:00 a.m.
 
This is the first time Sudden Valley has hosted the meet, and will mark the second straight year of racing the GNACs on a different course following last fall's trip to Kincaid Park in Anchorage.
 
KEEPING TRACK OF THE ACTION
The meet will not have a live Webcast. However, live results will be available. The appropriate link is available at the top of this story. Live results also will be available by typing gnac.live into any Web browser.
 
FINDING YOUR WAY TO SUDDEN VALLEY
The Sudden Valley Golf & Country Club is located southeast of Bellingham, without having to drive into the city proper. It is approximately 80-plus miles north of Seattle Pacific.
 
Most of that drive is north up Interstate 5 to Exit 240 toward Alger. Turn right off the exit and proceed through the stop sign onto Alger Cain Lake Road / Cain Lake Road, which will take you north. Turn onto Lake Whatcom Boulevard for 2.9 miles to Marigold Drive. Turn right and follow for a quarter mile to Sudden Valley. Enter at Gate 2 on the right toward the clubhouse.
 
There is a good-sized parking lot there, although it likely will fill up rather quickly. It is a short walk from the lot to the course.
 
Click on this link for more specific Mapquest driving directions.

RAINCOATS, UMBRELLAS – AND DRY SOCKS, TOO
Most years, competitors and fans at the GNAC meet get pretty lucky: They usually stay dry. It might be somewhat on the cool side for a Saturday in late October, but it's dry.
 
This time … maybe not so much. Overnight rain is expected on Friday and the forecast says that at least some drizzle is likely on Saturday morning. The temperature is expected to be in the low 50s by race time.
 
For those coming to watch, bringing along a change of shoes and socks for the drive back home is probably a good idea.

WIDE-OPEN COURSE – AND FANS CAN SEE MOST OF IT
Sudden Valley is an excellent venue at which to watch the action unfold.
 
The course is almost entirely on grass and is primarily flat. The men will run four loops of 2,000 meters; the women will run three of those 2,000-meter loops.
 




SCOUTING THE GNAC WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSIHPS
In three regular-season meets, Seattle Pacific has seen most of its conference stablemates: Western Washington and Simon Fraser (three times each), Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Fairbanks (twice each), Saint Martin's (once) and Central Washington (once).
 
For the Falcons, the primary targets will be both Alaska schools, Simon Fraser, and Western. They finished ahead of Simon at the season-opening Green River Invitational and were in front of Anchorage (but behind the other three) at the Bill Roe WWU Classic at the end of September.
 
Placing ahead of at least two of those aforementioned four schools would go a long way toward enhancing SPU's status when it comes time to determine who will get one of the 10 available at-large berths to nationals. Western Washington is going for its third straight title. The Falcons were seventh in 2023.
 
 

SPU is certain to start with a low finishing number, and senior Annika Esvelt would like to make it the lowest number possible – in other words, 1. While she has raced to three GNAC indoor track titles and two outdoor crowns, she is still aiming for that first cross country championship. Last year in Anchorage, she had by far the best-ever conference run, finishing third behind the Fairbanks combo of Kendall Kramer and Rosie Fordham.
 
 

Also seeking a spot in the single digits is junior Maya Ewing. She put in a solid summer of training, and that has shown up this fall. That was particularly noticeable in the season-opening Green River Invite and then at the prestigious Lewis Crossover two weeks ago in Illinois.
 
When Western and Simon Fraser joined SPU for the Green River meet at Fort Steilacoom Park, Ewing beat the No. 2 runners from both of those teams and was eighth overall. At Lewis, Ewing was 62nd heading into the final loop, then picked up 19 more spots to finish 43rd overall. With seven of the 10 GNAC school entered – Anchorage, Fairbanks, Simon, and Western Washington included – she wound up 10th out of the 69 conference runners and fourth among the No. 2s from those schools.
 
It is behind Esvelt and Ewing where the Falcons will need to step up their pace in order to improve their place.
 
Grad student Madelyn Buckley, who came aboard this year for her final college season, has been the No. 3 Falcon across the finish line in each of her three races
 
The Nos. 4 and 5 spots have rotated among junior Matise Mulch, freshman Alexa Gossett and freshman Nicole Pierce. Mulch has been a top-5 SPU scorer in all three meets, Gossett in one and Pierce in one. Having a chance to move into that scoring top 5 is sophomore Anna Prussian, who led the Falcons with a 10th-place finish at the Emerald City Open on Oct. 12 when the six front-runners were at Lewis.
 
Until someone goes out and actually beats her to the finish line, UAF's Kramer is the one to beat. She is going for her third consecutive title. She was second at Lewis and second at the Bill Roe WWU meet. In both of those races, Nanooks teammate Fordham was the second GNAC runner across the line. Kramer has put some distance between them, however: 14 seconds at the Roe, 11 seconds at Lewis.
 
Others to keep an eye on are Rachel Watkins of Simon Fraser, Ashley Reeck of Western Washington, and Alexandra Otto of Alaska Anchorage.
 



SCOUTING THE GNAC MEN'S CHAMPIONSHIPS

 

For the first time this season, the Falcons will have the one-two combo up front that they had been planning to have all along when junior Isaac Venable returns to action. He missed the three regular-season meets with a health issue, but has been cleared to be back on the starting line.

 
 

Sophomore Silas Demmert has stepped up to become Seattle Pacific's front runner. He led the way in all three regular-season meets, including an 18th-place finish over 8 very hilly kilometers at the Emerald City Open on Oct. 12.
 
Junior Nathaniel Gale and sophomore Jonathan Lieb have been Nos. 2 and 3 for the Falcons behind Demmert in all three meets. Nathan Korth, a freshman, has scored in all three races.
 
The Falcons are seeking to meet or beat their eighth-place team finish from last season, Demmert, Venable, Lieb, and Nathaniel Gale were the Nos. 2-3-4-5 scorers in Anchorage, with Demmert making the top 40 (38th).
 
Western Washington is the clear favorite to win its third consecutive championship. The Vikings have run in three meets with other GNAC schools this fall, and no one has come close to them. Alaska Anchorage was the GNAC team closest to them in all three meets, but the margins were 23 points at the Green River Invite, 79 at the Bill Roe WWU Classic and 437 (123 for WWU. 550 for UAA) at the Lewis Crossover.
 
Kevin McDermott of the Vikings will go for a second straight individual crown, but can expect a push from Central Washington's Johan Correa. They finished 1-2-3 last October, separated by four seconds So far this fall, McDermott was ninth at Lewis and Corea was eighth at the Charlles Bowles Willamette Invite.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
--This is the first championship meet at Sudden Valley, but it has served as the course for the Bill Roe Western Washington Classic in 2018, 2019, and 2021.
--The SPU women scored 153 points for their seventh-place finish at last year's GNACs in Anchorage.
--Their last top-5 finish was fifth in 2021 at Saint Martin's.
--The most recent sub-100 score for the Falcons at conference was 64 points for third place in 2019. That was the second of two straight third-place finishes – and two straight 64-point totals.
-- This will be the fourth different course in four GNAC meets for Annika Esvelt. Her previous conference races were at Saint Martin's in 2021 (9th in 22:06.3), at Western Oregon in 2022 (18th in 22:14.5) and at Anchorage's Kincaid Park last year (3rd in 21:04.5).
-- If Esvelt were to win, she would be the first Falcon since Jessica Pixler won the last of her four consecutive titles in 2009. Other previous Seattle Pacific champions were Josie Levin (2003) and Karen Dickson (2004).
-- Since Pixler;s 2009 title, the highest-placing Falcons were Mary Charlson (2017) and Kate Lilly (2019), both of whom were second.
-- Other returners from last year's meet in Anchorage are Matise Mulch (28th), Anna Prussian (36th), Maya Ewing (51st), Katelyn Flolo (54th) and Nicki Yorges (56th).
-- On the men's side, now-graduated Brennan LeBlanc led the way last October in 22nd place.
-- All of the other runners from last year are back: Silas Demmert (38th), Isaac Venable (47th), Jonathan Lieb (62nd), Nathaniel Gale (71st), Gabe Endresen (73rd) and Ben Sheirbon (77th).
-- The top 10 individuals in each race earn All-GNAC status.
-- There is no direct qualification based on team or individual placement to the West Regionals. That meet is open to any team (or individuals if not part of a complete team) that wishes to enter.
 
BUCKLEY KNOWS THE POSTSEASON DRILL
For most of the first-year Falcons – five on the women's side, one on the men's – Saturday's GNAC meet will be their first experience in a collegiate championship setting.
 
 

But not for Madelyn Buckley.
 
The grad student from Nine Mile Falls, which is about 12 miles northwest of Spokane, joined the Falcons for her final year of eligibility. She competed three years for Whitworth, a long-time member of the Division III Northwest Conference.
 
Buckley was a top-five finisher at the conference meet all three years (including second as a redshirt freshman in 2021). She raced at the West Regionals all three years and earned All-Region status twice: 16th as a sophomore and 24th last year as a junior. She capped her sophomore season by racing at the D3 nationals, In 2021, she was the NWC Freshman of the Year.
 
As a high school standout at Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls, Buckley moved steadily up the standings at the Class 1A (small school) Washington state meet, finishing 19th as a sophomore, 14thas a junior, and fifth as a senior.
 
DISTANCE COACH ERIC HANSEN SAYS …
(On approaching the meet)
"I think – knock on wood – we're healthy. Conference is always a dogfight every year, and I don't think this year is any different. We have lots of good teams. They're all going to be running even harder than they've been running during the season, and we need to do the same. We hopefully have some good upside, but we need to do it on race day.
 
 

(On the women's meet)
"We have a much deeper team (than last year) and we've been hanging in with some really good teams. I think we have yet to see our best race as a collective unit. We've seen some good things from each person at this point, but I think getting everyone to do it on the same day is the trick at this time of year. A couple meets, we came up short against some pretty good teams in our conference in a really tight race. … Everyone has a job to do. If everyone does their job, we should be happy with the result.
 
(On the men's meet)
"I'm excited to see what those guys can do. Johnny (Lieb) has been having great workouts lately and is really coming on at the right time. Some of our guys were feeling a little under the weather at Emerald City, but they are healthy again now and feeling good again at this point. We're excited to have Isaac (Venable) back in the mix this week, finally. He definitely got some (health-related) curveballs thrown his way, but he has handled them with great professionalism and a great mindset. We're hoping he's going to be as ready as he can be, and I know he's going to give us his best effort."
 
POLLING PLACE
The Seattle Pacific women were picked for seventh place and the men were picked for eighth in the GNAC preseason coaches poll. The women received 42 points in voting by the 10 coaches, and the men had 31 points.
 
Western Washington was a unanimous favorite on the men's side and a near-unanimous choice on the women's side. The Vikings men got all 10 first-place votes for 100 points. Simon Fraser was second with 83.
 
The women received nine of the 10 first-place votes and 99 points. The other first went to Alaska Fairbanks, which was second with 81.
 
SPU's women had two weeks in the West Region top 10 as compiled by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. The Falcons were No. 8 in the Sept. 18 poll and No. 9 on Sept. 25.
 
AROUND THE WEST
All three West Region conference will run their championship meets this weekend.
 
The California Collegiate Athletic Association event will be on Friday in Fresno, California. Chico State's men will be going for its 23rd consecutive crown. Last year, the Wildcats won with 18 points, going 1-2-3-4-8. They later went on to win the regional title and place ninth at nationals.  The Chico women won with 45 points and have taken 13 of the last 15. The only interruption to that stretch was back-to-back titles for Stanislaus State in 2021 and 2022.
 
The Pacific West Conference meet is set for Saturday in Irvine, California. Azusa Pacific is the defending men's champion, having won for the first time last year, finishing with 25 points, a 50-point margin on second-place Biola. Both teams were at the Lewis Crossover on Oct. 12. Biola was fifth with 202 points; Azusa placed 12th with 321. On the women's side, Biola won its second consecutive championship, beating out Concordia Irvine, 40-51. The Biola women were eighth at Lewis; Concordia did not race there.
 
UP NEXT
The NCAA West Regionals will return to Amend Park in Billings on Saturday, Nov. 9. The 10K men's race leaves the starting line at 9:00 a.m. Pacific time, followed by the women's 6K at 10:15. The top three team finishers and top five individual finishers in both races will receive automatic qualifying berths at the NCAA Championships. The top two individuals from non-qualifying teams – regardless of where they place – also receive automatic bids.
 
Other high-placing teams and individuals will be considered for at-large invitations. The NCAA will look at all eight regions after the meets are completed and determine 10 men's teams, 10 women's teams, eight male individuals and eight female individuals to add to the national field.
 
The nationals are set for Saturday, Nov. 23 at Arcade Creek Cross Country Course in Sacramento.


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