Complete results (PDF)

SEATTLE – So who's the No. 1 runner for the Seattle Pacific men's cross country team?

The way things are going, almost everyone on the team on the team will have been there by the end of the season.

On Saturday morning, it was Tavish Taylor's turn at the top of the pack. The Falcon freshman ran solid from the start and came home in 30th place in the men's Open Division of the 19th annual Sundodger Invitational at West Seattle's Lincoln Park.

Seattle Pacific totaled 174 points for a school-record fifth-place finish among the 21 teams. That was a significant improvement from last year, when the Falcons wound up with 220 points and placed ninth out of 17 teams.

San Francisco State, one of the top NCAA Division II teams in the West Region, won easily with 61 points. But SPU did finish well in front of two Great Northwest Athletic Conference rivals at the meet. Western Washington was seventh with 214, and Saint Martin's placed ninth with 244.

Taylor (Port Angeles, Wash./Port Angeles HS) became the fourth runner in as many meets – and the second freshman – to lead the way for SPU. He finished his 8 kilometers in 25 minutes, 36.43 seconds.

“That was exciting to see,” coach Erika Daligcon said of Taylor's performance. “Tavish raced hard at Apple Ridge, and this week, he really showed his true colors and what he can do.”

For most of Saturday's race, it was senior Jacob Wahlenmaier (Everett, Wash./Cascade HS) in front for the Falcons. He was as far up as 10th about two-thirds of the way through the 8K event on a cloudy morning with upper-50s temperatures that were ideal for racing. But he got hit hard by a sideache in the latter stages and dropped back to No. 2 for SPU, though still 35th overall among the 233 finishers.

The door thus opened for Taylor, who also led for part of the way at last week's Apple Ridge Invitational before teammate Jordan Wolfe took the lead and won that race in Yakima.

The Falcons once again displayed the strong pack running that became their habit last season and has continued through the early portions of the 2011 schedule, even with several freshman on the current squad. SPU's top six runners finished within 16 places of each other and just 22 seconds apart on Saturday.

Furthermore, all six of them – including four freshmen -- broke the 26-minute mark. In addition to Taylor, Wahlemaier clocked 25:40.14 (35th place), freshman Alex Horton (Kent, Wash./Kentridge HS) was at 25:52.70 (40th), freshman Turner Wiley (Issaquah, Wash./Issaquah HS) ran 25:57.36 (44th), freshman Seth Pierson (Cashmere, Wash./Cashmere HS) was at 25:57.73 (45th), and junior AJ Baker (Au Gres, Mich.) came across in 25:58.44 (46th).

Last year, no Seattle Pacific runner even came close to breaking 26 minutes. Baker was the fastest Falcon that day in 26:34.58 and placed 48th.

SPU's previous best team finish at Sundodger was sixth place with 133 points in 1996.

“If we can keep this group healthy, it will be fun to see at Willamette in two weeks what they can do,” Daligcon said in looking ahead to the Charles Bowles Invitational in Salem, Ore., on Oct. 1 – a meet that typically includes several Division II West Region powers and also has some of the West Coast's leading D-1 and D-3 teams. “In the first week of practice and even during our communications this summer, I had a good feeling about this group of guys.”

But before the Falcons travel south to Oregon, they'll head east to Spokane for next Saturday's Erik Anderson/Runner's Soul Invitational. That will give them a chance to run on the course at Plantes Ferry Park that also will be the site of the Division II West Regionals on Nov. 5, and the D-2 nationals on Nov. 19.


NCAA MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Sundodger Invitational
Saturday, September 17, 2011
8 kilometers at Lincoln Park / Seattle, Wash.

Teams scores -- 1, San Francisco State 61; 2, Everett CC 132; 3, British Columbia 151; 4, Wisconsin-Stout 162; 5, Seattle Pacific 174; 6, Saint Martin's 175; 7, Whitworth 222; 8, Academy of Art 229; 9, Linfield 245; 10, Western Washington 245 (Linfield gets higher place on 6th-runner tiebreaker); 11, Clackamas CC 262; 12, Lewis & Clark 362; 13, Trinity Western 383; 14, Pacific Lutheran 393; 15, Whitman 400; 16, Northwest University 412; 17, Puget Sound 414; 18, Eastside Runners 470; 19, Highline CC 475; 20, Mount Hood CC 544; 21, Green River CC 613.

Top 5 -- 1, Seth Bridges (NW) 24:19.6; 2, Tim Nelson (Wis-Stout) 24:27.0; 3, Kyle Van Santen (StM) 24:44.0; 4, Spencer Hunt (StM) 24:50.1; 5, Daveson Marinchich (Acad Art) 24:58.2. SPU placers -- 30, Tavish Taylor 25:36.4; 35, Jacob Wahlenmaier 25:40.1; 40, Alex Horton 25:52.7; 44, Turner Wiley 25:57.4; 45, Seth Pierson 25:57.7; 46, AJ Baker 25:58.4; 63, Jordan Wolfe 26:11.2; 70, Will Harrison 26:16.7; 108, Daniel Hamilton 26:49.5; 158, Gavin Brand 27:50.1; 159, Trevor Taylor 27:50.3.