Complete results (PDF)

 YAKIMA – They're in.
 
The Seattle Pacific Falcons didn't think they would be going to the NCAA Division II West Regional cross country meet. But after they arrived home from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships on Saturday afternoon, they learned that they will indeed be getting tickets to Spokane.
 
AJ Baker ran with the front pack all the way and scored a top-15 finish, leading SPU to sixth place on Saturday morning in the conference competition at Apple Ridge Run.
 
Seattle Pacific totaled 161 points. Saint Martin's beat out the Falcons for the No. 5 spot with 151, while defending champion Alaska Anchorage won easily. The Seawolves posted the day's low total of 27 points, well in front of second-place Western Washington, which had 63.
 
The Falcons headed to Yakima aiming for a spot among the top five teams. While there are no official qualifying standards for regionals (any school that chooses to do so can enter), each school is allowed to set its own standards. At Seattle Pacific, that standard is top five at conference – and at the end of Saturday's race, the Falcons were10 points shy of that coveted No. 5 position.
 
However, while the team was driving back across Snoqualmie Pass to Seattle in the afternoon, school athletic director Erin O'Connell informed head coach Erika Daligcon that the men would be able to make the trip, based in part on Saturday's performance (the Falcons beat four of their seven Saint Martin's counterparts) and their season-long body of work (SPU has won three team titles, ran to a school-record fifth-place finish at Sundodger, and been ranked in three of the five regional polls), among other things.

“I'm obviously pleased that that decision has been made. I think these guys are going to rise to the occasion and are just looking forward to having another opportunity to get out there,” Daligcon said. “Hopefully, some of the guys who didn't have quite the races of their career today will be able to have another shot at and see what they can do in two weeks.
 
“They've worked so well as a team. It will be fun to see what they can do.”

Falcons junior Baker (Au Gres, MIch.) stayed with the leaders through the entire 8 kilometers (4.96 miles). He came across the line in 15th with a time of 26:01, an improvement of 62 seconds and 25 places from last year's GNAC performance.
 
“I came through the first mile in 5:01, and after that, I was just trying to hang on to the people that I was around,” Baker said. “I knew if I could hang onto those guys, I could do pretty well. The Western Washington guy that I was watching I was able to stick with through five or six kilometers. But around 6K, he put a move on, and I couldn't stay with him.”

Junior Seth Pierson (Cashmere, Wash./Cashmere HS), in his first year with the Falcons after transferring from Everett Community College, was No. 2 across the line for SPU, placing 26th in 26:30. Freshman Turner Wiley (Issaquah, Wash./Issaquah HS), 38th in 26:47, junior Will Harrison (Tucson, Ariz.), 40th in 26:51, and senior Nathanael Sleight (Bellevue, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS), 45th in 27:08, completed the scoring.
 
Junior Jordan Wolfe (Bend, Ore.), who won the Apple Ridge Run Invitational on this same course in September (that race was a 6K) and also was the team front runner at the Charles Bowles Invitational in Salem, Ore., on Oct. 1, got off to a strong start, running fifth at the mile mark. But a lingering hip flexor flared up in mid-race, and knocked him out from among the leaders.
 
Micah Chelemo of Alaska Anchorage, having had to settle for second behind now-graduated teammate Marko Cheseto last year, pulled away from Northwest Nazarene's Barak Watson just beyond the two-mile mark and cruised to victory in 24:24. Watson was second in 24:31.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
GNAC Championships
Saturday, October 22, 2011
8 kilometers (4.96 miles) at Apple Ridge Run / Yakima, Wash.
 
Team scores – 1, Alaska Anchorage 27; 2, Western Washington 63; 3, Western Oregon 80; 4, Northwest Nazarene 139; 5, Saint Martin's 151; 6, Seattle Pacific 161; 7, Simon Fraser 193; 8, Central Washington 203; 9, Montana State Billings 220; 10, Alaska Fairbanks 228.
Top 10 – 1, Micah Chelemo (UAA) 24:24; 2, Barak Watson (NNU) 24:31; 3, Kyle Van Santen (StM) 25:00; 4, Alfred Kangogo (UAA) 25:132; 5, Tyler Cannon (WWU) 25:18; 6, Yonatan Yilma (UAA) 25:18; 7, Dylan Anthony (UAA) 25:32; 8, Spencer Hunt (StM) 25:38; 9, Isaac Kangogo (UAA) 25:41; 10, Dak Riek (WWU) 25:44.
SPU placers – 15, AJ Baker 26:01; 26, Seth Pierson 26:30; 38, Turner Wiley 26:47; 42, Will Harrison 26:51; 45, Nathanael Sleight 27:08; 47, Tavish Taylor 27:16; 53, Jacob Wahlanmaier 27;25; 60, Alex Horton 27:48; 64, Jordan Wolfe 27:55; 72, Daniel Hamilton 28:14.