SEATTLE (Sept. 8) -- Nathanael Castle was Seattle Pacific University's top finisher for the day as the men's and women's cross country campaign began with the Emerald CIty Invitational Saturday at Lower Woodland Park.

Castle (Jr., Gooding, Id.), who won his only race of 2000 before missing the rest of the season due to a knee injury, returned and ran a competitive 11th. Washington's Dustin Duke won the 8000-meter race in 25 minutes, 44 seconds and Castle was timed in 26:45­third among athletes from Div. II teams. Washington swept the top five spots to score a perfect 15. SPU was sixth with 217.

As expected, Coach Doris Heritage held out her top women due to nagging injuries. Rachel Ross (Sr., Kennewick, Wa.), the two-time conference champion and former All-America, did not compete because of a foot injury suffered this summer. Also sidelined was Jamie Witt (So., Folsom, Ca.) with a sore back.

Dana Cantrell (Sr., Bellingham, Wa./Sehome) was the top SPU scorer, taking 28th in 20:00 over 5000 meters. The Huskies Sabrina Monro was the winner in 17:17. The UW finished with a near-perfect team score of 17. Seattle Pacific was sixth with 198.

The next race is Saturday (Sept. 15) at the Saint Martin's Invitational.

Women's Team Scores
1-Washington, 17; 2-Northwest College, 61; 3-Puget Sound, 142; 4-Western Washington, 148; 5-Central Washington, 167; 6-Seattle Pacific, 198; 7-Seattle U., 263; 8-St. Martin's, 274.

Women's Individual Results
1- Sabrina Monro,UW, 17:17; 2-Kate Bradshaw, UW, 17:38; 3-Lisa Gibbs, UW, 17:39; 4-Jamie Gibbs, UW, 18:15; 5-Dana Boyle, UPS, 18:16; 6-Ashlee Vincent, WWU, 18:37; 7-Karen Steen, CNW, 18:39.64; 8-Kate Spigel, UW, 18:45; 9-Laura Halverson, UW, 18:45; 10-Kim Stone, NWC, 18:49. Also: 28-Dana Cantrell, SPU, 20:00; 41-Kara Richard, SPU, 20:28; 42-Josie Lavin, SPU, 20:28; 48-Candy Owens, SPU, 20:58; 51-Nicole Seana, SPU, 21:03; 54-Leah Paddock, SPU, 21:09; 90-Acadia Giffy-Broghangh,SPU, 24:26; 92-Breanne Rohm, SPU, 25:05.

Men's Team Scores
1-Washington, 15; 2-Western Washington, 103; 3-Puget Sound, 108; 4-Central Washington, 137; 5-Seattle U., 147; 6-Seattle Pacific, 217; 7-St. Martin's, 224; 8-Everett Community College, 347.

Men's Individual Results
1-Dustin Duke, UW, 25:44; 2-Mike Hill, UW, 25:57; 3-Jeremy Park, UW, 26:06; 4-Ben Koss, UW, 26:11; 5-Todd Arnold, UW, 26:12; 6-Michael Kiter, unat., 26:21; 7-Bob Donker, unat., 26:25; 8-Zack Boteilho, WWU, 26:31; 9-Martin Ranney, WWU, 26:32; 10-Eric Garner, UW, 26:39. Also: 11-Nathanael Castle, SPU, 26:45; 43-Neal Fryett, SPU, 28:35; 51-Nick Glancy, SPU, 28:50; 59-Zach Grice, SPU, 29:04; 65-Scott VanHess, SPU, 29:49; 67-Aaron Libadisos, SPU, 29:52; 72-Paul Mach, SPU, 30:29; 93-Alex Bartholomew, SPU, 32:56; 97-Clint Bjella, SPU, 33:58.