THE SCHEDULE: OFF WEEK
Weekly release, with stats (PDF)
SEATTLE – Rest up. Heal up. Tune up. Psych up.
The Seattle Pacific cross country teams are doing all of that, even though their competition calendar is clear this week. Coming off of some impressive runs at both ends of the West Coast last weekend, the Falcons are now putting a series of regular-season invitationals behind them.
That’s because right smack in front of them is the Great Northwest Athletic Conference meet.
The conference championships return to Apple Ridge Run outside of Yakima next Saturday, where they’ll take place for the second year in a row. And the three big questions as they set their sights to the east are the same three that have been looming over the Falcons since the start of the season:
-- Will Jessica Pixler make it four GNAC crowns in a row? (Most likely, yes.)
-- Will the Seattle Pacific women claim their fifth consecutive conference championship? (Definitely within reach, although Western Washington and Alaska Anchorage will want something to say about it.)
-- Will the SPU men snag a top-four finish and earn a trip to the NCAA Division II West Regionls? (Plenty of quality competition, but they’ll be in the hunt.)
The races through what used to be (and still is, to some extent) an apple orchard on the hills above Yakima begin at 10 a.m. for the women and 11 a.m. for the men.
SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
Coach Erika Daligcon wouldn’t mind having some definitive answers to a couple of those questions. But while she’ll have to wait, as will everyone else, she has started to get a feel for what some of those answers might be.
“I really feel like (the regular season) has gone well,” Daligcon said. “The people who were dealing with injuries are healing, and they’re healing at the right time. Suzie Strickler (Richland, Wash./Richland HS) is doing a lot better and starting to do some running again. Natty Plunkett has been doing really well and feeling strong. She wasn’t afraid to race last weekend (at the Western Washington Invite), which is impressive.”
Her men’s team doesn’t have the wealth of experience that the women’s team has, they’ve been gaining that experience through the invitational portion of the season.
“Even though this is a young group of guys, if they have a great day out there, they can shoot for regionals,” Daligcon said. “We’ll let Western Washington and Anchorage take care of their business (both are ranked nationally), and we’ll concentrate on the schools we know we can go after.”
RETRACING THE REGULAR SEASON
The Seattle Pacific women certainly affirmed their status as one of the country’s top Division II programs this fall. But what became just as clear is that they’re also in one of the country’s top Division II conferences. The GNAC has three members of the national top 10. No one else has more than one.
The Falcons found out early that the road to the GNAC title goes not only through Seattle, but also through Anchorage and Bellingham. At the Sundodger Invitational on Sept. 19, SPU was fifth in the eight-team, elite-level Women’s Invitational. But Western Washington took third, and Alaska Anchorage rolled to the team title in the Women’s Open.
Seattle Pacific came back the following week at the prestigious Stanford Invitational, ran even better than at Sundodger, and, led by the second-place performance of Jessica Pixler (Sammamish, Wash./Eastlake HS) improved its standing by six places and more than 100 points from 2008, as most of the five Falcons in the race made PRs with room to spare.
The SPU men, just as they did last season, took considerable strides forward with a group of young runners. As expected, senior Chad Meis (Renton, Wash./Seattle Christian HS) has been the pace setter, highlighted by his first career sub 25-minute performance when he ran 22nd at the Charles Bowles Invitational in Salem on Oct. 3.
But from the get-go, what has stood out for the men is the tight pack behind Meis. Junior Jordan Lance (Mill Creek, Wash./Jackson HS) and sophomore Nate Sleight (Bellevue, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) both have been at the front of that pack in different meets. What’s more, the gap between the four scoring runners behind Meis typically has been less than a minute, and has been as tight as 22 seconds at the Bowles Invite.
FALCON RECAP
Jessica Pixler and Jane Larson sent a clear message last week in San Francisco: They’re going to do everything they can to keep everyone in the GNAC behind them come next Saturday in Yakima.
Pixler and fellow senior Larson (Fall City, Wash./Cedar Park Christian HS) ran to a 1-2 finish in the San Francisco State Invitational, a pre-regional meet on the same Golden Gate Park course that will be the site of the NCAA West Regionals on Nov. 7. She smashed through the 21-minute mark, finishing the 6-kilometer course in 20:36.4. Larson was second in 21:37.9, outsprinting Alaska Anchorage lead runner Ruth Keino (21:38.7) to the finish line.
Chad Meis followed up his strong run at the Bowles Invite with a top-10 finish at Golden Gate, completing the 8K course in 25:48.2 to cross the line ninth. Jordan Lance was 63rd in 27:39.2.
Last Saturday in Bellingham, sophomore Natty Plunkett (Bellevue, Wash./Newport HS) returned from a season-long foot injury and took eighth at the Western Washington Invitational. She ran 6K in 22:29 and was the front of an SPU that bunched up within 19 seconds. Senior Lisa Anderberg (Mukilteo, Wash./Kamiak HS) was 11th in 22:44, and senior Kate Harline (Orem, Utah) was 12th in 22:48. The team took fourth with 90 points.
Nate Sleight led the men’s team at the WWU Invite. In the first 10K of the year, Sleight was 27th overall in 34:06. Three other Falcons -- freshman Will Harrison (Tucson, Ariz., 29th in 34:12), freshman Andrew Van Ness (Bellevue, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS, 49th in 34:55), and freshman AJ Baker (AuGres, Mich., 52nd in 35:02) were within a minute of Sleight. The team was seventh with 170 points.
MOST RECENT SPU TOP 7 – WOMEN
Oct. 10 at Western Washington Invitational
Lake Padden Park/Bellingham, Wash. (6K)
Seattle Pacific 4th/6 teams, 90 points
Runner SPU place Overall Time
Natty Plunkett 1 8 22:29
Lisa Anderberg 2 11 22:44
Kate Harline 3 12 22:48
Mary Williams 4 38 24:25
Krysta Carrick 5 39 24:26
Kelsey Brown 6 40 24:28
Laura Moser 7 48 24:58
MOST RECENT SPU TOP 7 – MEN
Oct. 10 at Western Washington Invitational
10K at Lake Padden Park/Bellingham, Wash.
SPU 7th/8 teams, 170 points
Runner SPU place Overall Time
Nate Sleight 1 27 34:06
Will Harrison 2 29 34:12
Andrew Van Ness 3 49 34:55
AJ Baker 4 52 35:02
Gavin Brand 5 61 35:38
Andrew Hamilton 6 76 36:29
Nathan Seely 7 82 37:42
POLLING PLACE
The Falcon women have started moving back up the ladder in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association women’s polls.
SPU climbed one spot to No. 3 in the West Region, and jumped five positions to No. 7 in the national rankings. The Falcons are now one notch ahead of Western Washington in both polls.
Chico State is still No. 1 in both the West and national polls. Alaska Anchorage remained No. 2 in the West and No. 5 in the nation.
The Falcons have been as high as No. 1 in the West and No. 3 nationally this season.
ON THE HONOR ROLL
-- Jessica Pixler was named the GNAC Athlete of the Week for women’s cross country for two consecutive weeks during September. Pixler, who won it on Sept. 21 for her third-place performance in the Sundodger Invitational, picked up another one on Sept. 28 after running second at the Stanford Invite. Pixler now has 26 GNAC Athlete of the Week honors for her career. Of those, 12 have been for cross country. The other 14 have been for indoor and outdoor track combined.
UP NEXT
If it seems like the season was just getting started, that’s because the first meet was just a month and a half ago. But already, it’s time for the GNAC Championships. The nine conference schools will gather at Apple Ridge Run on the outskirts of Yakima next Saturday, Oct. 24. The women will race 6 kilometers at 10 a.m., and the men will start their 8K race at 11 a.m. A top-4 finish for Seattle Pacific guarantees a trip to the NCAA West Regionals on Nov. 7 in San Francisco.
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for a look at results, schedules and notes from the GNAC.