Complete results
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BELLINGHAM -- Natty Plunkett is back -- and how.
The Seattle Pacific sophomore, who has been sidelined with an injury this fall, ran to an eighth-place finish at the Western Washington Invitational cross country meet in her season debut on Saturday, leading the Falcons to fourth in the team standings.
SPU finished with 90 points. Club Northwest edged defending champion WWU for the team title, 32-39, and British Columbia was third with 88.
Plunkett (Bellevue, Wash./Newport HS) completed the 6-kilometer Lake Padden Park course in 22 minutes, 29 seconds. That was an improvement of 14 seconds from the 22:43 that she logged as a freshman last year and should provide a welcome boost for the Falcons as they prepare for the upcoming Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships.
The GNACs are set for Saturday, Oct. 24, at Apple Ridge Run just outside of Yakima. Seattle Pacific, which will be seeking its fifth straight conference crown, is expecting a stern challenge from both Alaska Anchorage and Western Washington.
“I think Natty feels really good about this race,” Falcons coach Erika Daligcon said. “She has done a good job of working on cross-training and being really diligent, so that’s going to pay off. We just want to get her back into racing.
With regular front-running seniors Jessica Pixler (Sammamish, Wash./Eastlake HS) and Jane Larson (Fall City, Wash./Cedar Park Christian HS) not competing on Saturday after racing to a 1-2 finish at the San Francisco State Invite, Plunkett led a Falcon pack of three across the finish line.
Senior Lisa Anderberg (Mukilteo, Wash./Kamiak HS) was 11th in 22:44, and senior Kate Harline (Orem, Utah) was right behind in 12th at 22:48. Anderberg ran 36 seconds faster than she did a year ago when she was coming off an injury, and Harline was within one second of her 2008 time.
“It was real good for Lisa, breaking 23 minutes for the first time,” Daligcon said. “And Kate felt encouraged, too.
Sophomore Mary Williams (Lake Jackson, Texas) ran fourth for the Falcons and 38th overall in 24:25, and freshman Krysta Carrick (Tokyo, Japan) rounded out the SPU scorers with a 39th-place finish in 24:26.
Western Washington star Sarah Porter was an easy winner, finishing in 21:10, a margin of 48 seconds on runner-up Laura Mickelson of Club Northwest. But Club Northwest had all five of its scorers among the top 10 and beat the host Vikings for the team title, 32-39.
NCAA Women's Cross Country
Western Washington Invitational
Saturday, October 10, 2009
6K at Lake Padden Park/Bellingham
Team scores -- 1, Club Northwest 32; 2, Western Washington 39; 3, British Columbia 88; 4, Seattle Pacific 90; 5, Central Washington 141; 6, Saint Martin's 164.
Top 10 -- 1, Sarah Porter (WWU) 21:10; 2, Laura Mickelson (CNW) 21:58; 3, Courtney Olsen (WWU) 22:03; 4, Kristi Dickey (CNW) 22:05; 5, Sabrina Reeve (UBC) 22:06; 6, Lauren Briehof (WWU) 22:11; 7, Rose Wetzel (CNW) 22:26;
8, Natty Plunkett (SPU) 22:29; 9, Lia Slemons (CNW) 22:33; 10, Karen Steen (CNW) 22:39.
Other SPU placers -- 11, Lisa Anderberg 22:44; 12, Kate Harline 22:48; 38, Mary Wiliams 24:25; 39, Krysta Carrick 24:26; 40, Kelsey Brown 24:28; 48, Laura Moser 24:58; 56, Kayla Wilkins 25:30; 59, Lauren Wood 25:47; 66, Margaret Hanscom 26:50; 72, Kassandra Boulton 28:10.