STEILACOOM, Wash. – Sure, it was just 4 kilometers. But it was a pleasant September Saturday – not hot, not cool, not wet, not windy. And for Annika Esvelt and her Seattle Pacific teammates …
 
… it was racing.
 
Esvelt ran to a second-place finish and Maya Ewing came through in eighth, leading SPU to third place at the season-opening Green River Invitational cross country meet in Fort Steilacoom Park.
 

The Falcons totaled 81 points in the eight-team event. Portland, an NCAA Division I school, won easily with 25. Western Washington, one of SPU's Great Northwest Athletic Conference colleagues, was second with 50.
 
The 2023-24 season was Esvelt's best by far across all three running seasons. She was All-GNAC and All-West Region in cross country, a GNAC champion and second-team All-American in indoor track, and a double first-team All-American in outdoor track, which included a silver medal in the 10,000 meters at NCAAs.
 
On Saturday, she seemed as if she was picking up right where she left off last spring. Esvelt went out aggressively and led for a good chunk of the two loops around Fort Steilacoom. The only runner who finally caught up with her was Portland's Juliette Folsom inside the last kilometer. Folsom came across the finish line in 13 minutes, 6.1 seconds; Esvelt was next at 13:08.6.
 
"It was really fun – the perfect day for cross country," Esvelt said. "I wish I could have pulled off a win, but that's OK – it was still fun, and I'm really proud of my time. I was super-sore, but once you get out there, you forget about all of that."
 
Added Falcons assistant coach / distance coach Eric Hansen, "She had a great summer of training. Obviously, she showed up in just as good of shape as she was at the end of outdoor track. Getting back into racing mode might take one or two meets, but she looks as good as she has for the start of cross country season right now.".
 
While Esvelt was doing her thing up front, Ewing was showing was a solid summer of training has done for her. She steadily worked her way up the pack on Saturday and had a strong finish in 13:36.1. Ewing finished ahead of all but the No. 1 Western Washington runner.
 




Last year in this same meet, Western had the first 14 runners into the chute. (Esvelt did not run in that one.) Ewing said that part of her focus on Saturday was penetrating that Vikings pack.
 
"I didn't expect that at all coming into it," Ewing said of being right among the Vikings. "But the whole race, I could feel myself in the middle of their pack and I still felt pretty good. So it felt good to keep pushing and feel myself passing them. … I felt really strong, and I could feel my summer fitness."
 
Madelyn Buckley, a grad student who was a three-time NCAA Division III All-Region honoree at Whitworth, made her SPU debut in fine form, finishing No. 3 for the team and 22nd overall. Rounding out the top-5 scoring were No 4 Matise Mulch (a junior and 32nd  overall) and No. 5 Alexa Gossett (a freshman and No. 40).
 

"The women ran great. We've been putting in a lot of heavy work these last couple weeks, so I'm sure a lot of them were still racing on tired legs," Hansen said. "To be able to come out and look as good as we did today is a pretty good sign. And hopefully, it gives some of them some confidence going into these nest few weeks we have coming up."
 
Among the teams SPU finished ahead of on Saturday was Simon Fraser. The Red Leafs were one point behind the Falcons with 82. They were picked No. 3 in the GNAC preseason coaches poll; Seattle Pacific was picked No. 7.
 
"It's early, and I don't put too much stock in rankings," Hansen said. "All that matters is showing up on race day. But Simon is a great team, and for us to come out and compete with them like that is a good sign early in the season."
 

DEMMERT LEADS SPU MEN
Sophomore Silas Demmert came on strong in the final kilometer and was the first Seattle Pacific competitor across the finish line in the men's race. Demmert was 51st overall, completing his 6 kilometers in 18:51.4.
 
SPU placed eighth in the team standings with 241 points. Portland, which swept the top five spots, won with a perfect score of 15.

Nathaniel Gale, a junior who had been at the front of the Falcons pack most of the way, was close behind Demmert, placing 54th in 18:54.8.
 
Also scoring were sophomore Jonathan Lieb at No. 3 (70th overall), freshman Nathan Korth at No. 4 (85th) and junior Ben Sheirbon at No. 5 (94th).
 
"The guys have put in a lot of great work. We're missing a couple key players on the men's team right now, which is tough," Hansen said. (Isaac Venable and Gabe Endresen were there, but did not race.) "But we still went out and competed well on kind of tired legs. We weren't expecting to feel 100 percent this week, but this definitely gives us some things to focus on."
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons have next week off from competition. They return to action on Saturday, Sept. 28, at the Bill Roe Western Washington Classic in Ferndale. The men's 8K race in Hovander Homestead Park starts at 10:00 a.m., followed by the women's 6K at 11:00.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Green River Invitational
Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024
4 kilometers at Fort Steilacoom Park / Steilacoom, Wash.
 
Team scores – 1, Portland 25; 2, Western Washington 50; 3, Seattle Pacific 81; 4, Simon Fraser 82; 5, Portland State 138; 6, Central Washington 182; 7, Northwest University 228; 8, Everett CC 246.
 
Top 5 – 1, Juliette Forstrom (Portland) 13:06.1; 2, Annika Esvelt (SPU) 13:08.6; 3, Samantha Prusse (Portland) 13:22.6; 4, Teresa Perez (Portland) 13:26.6; 5, Jane Roloff (Portland) 13:28.2.
 
Other SPU placers – 8, Maya Ewing 13:36.1; 22, Madelyn Buckley 13:57.3; 32, Matise Mulch 14:12.5; 40, Alexa Gossett 14:28.6; 42, Anna Prussian 14:32.4; 47, Nicole Pierce 14:40.3; 52, Ella Milanovich 14:49.9; 64, Katelyn Flolo 15:19.2; 70, Lucia Templeton 15:35.7; 79, Nicki Yorges 16:01.9.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Green River Invitational
Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024
6 kilometers at Fort Steilacoom Park / Steilacoom, Wash.
 
Team scores – 1, Portland 15; 2, Western Washington 74; 3, Timberline Athletic Club 93; 4, Central Washington 97; 5, Simon Fraser 126; 6, Portland State 175; 7, Northwest University 214; 8, Seattle Pacific 241; 9, Green River College 259; 10, Saint Martin's 273; 11, Evergreen State 276; 12, Everett CC 328; 13, Olympic College 384.
 
Top 5 – 1, Nate Lantz (Portland) 17:19.9; 2, Nolan Hosbein (Portland) 17:20.8; 3, Ahmed Sado (Portland) 17:20.9; 4, Cameron Stein (Portland) 17:21.1; 5, Daniel Racle (Portland) 17:23.0.
 
SPU placers – 51, Silas Demmert 18:51.4; 54, Nathaniel Gale 18:54.8; 70, Jonathan Lieb 19:22.4; 85, Nathan Korth 19:53.6; 94, Ben Sheirbon 20:24.9; 101, Ethan Erickson 20:32.6.


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