Lots and lots of runners. A meet so large that it requires four races is awaiting the Seattle Pacific University cross country teams this Saturday (Sept. 22) at Lincoln Park. The Sundodger Invitational and Open will feature over 25 teams from throughout the nation in both the men's and women's divisions. The Falcons will face six other Great Northwest Athletic Conference teams in the open division, where SPU is the defending women's champion. This is the next-to-last race of the season at the shorter distances of 5000 meters for women and 8000 for the men. At next week's Western Washington Invitational the lengths stretch to 6k and 10k, respectively.

A who's who. The complete Sundodger field is quite impressive, with an invitational lineup featuring Washington, Washington State, Portland, Portland State and Idaho.The open division includes GNAC members Alaska Anchorage, Central Washington, Saint Martin's, Seattle U., Western Oregon and Western Washington, as well as Simon Fraser and Puget Sound. A year ago SPU defeated Central for the women's open. Central was ranked No. 9 and Seattle Pacific No. 12 in last week's NCAA Division II coaches poll. The women's open is the first race, beginning at 9 a.m. It's followed by the men's open (9:30), women's invitational (10:15) and men's invitational (10:45).

Getting healthy, stronger. Both of Doris Heritage's teams were bolstered by the fall debuts of several key performers, and the men's squad could be strengthened further this week if freshman Tim LeCount (Fr., Battle Ground, Wa.) is given the green light. LeCount has been held out of the first two meets with a knee injury. At the Saint Martin's Invitational, Heritage had nearly her full compliment of women.

See Rachel run. Ask Rachel Ross (Sr., Kennewick, Wa.) which is her favorite cross country course and she will likely begin with Lincoln Park. Ross has rarely finished anything but in first place on the West Seattle path during her career. She won conference titles there as in 1998 and 2000, plus the Sundodger Open title last season. Last week Ross made her fall debut by using a late kick to take second place at the Saint Martin's Invitational. That and her 5k time of 19 minutes, 5 seconds earned her GNAC runner of the week. Karen Steen of Club Northwest was the overall winner in 18:36. The Falcons defeated Western Washington 36-49 for the meet team title.

Nate's great. Seattle Pacific not only produced the top collegian in the women's race but the men's as well. Nathanael Castle (Jr., Gooding, Id.), running what Heritage said was the strongest race of his career, was runner-up at Lacey in an 8k clocking of 26:32­11 seconds in front of the third-place finisher. Castle had taken 11th at the Emerald City Invitational the previous week. SPU, with 75 points, finished third behind Seattle U. (52) and Saint Martin's (68) in the team standings last week.

Trail mix. Four of the women's top seven at Saint Martin's were running for the first time. In addition to Ross, Jamie Witt (So., Folsom, Ca.) and Ruth Hawkinson (Jr., Roy, Wa./Yelm) ninth and 10th, respectively, while Kirsten Bjork (So., Olympia, Wa./Black Hills) was 24th. Dana Cantrell (Sr., Bellingham, Wa./Sehome), the team's top scorer at Emerald City, was No. 2 on the team and eighth overall...Tim Marston (So., Pullman, Wa./Logos) was added to the men's lineup and was seventh on the team, 29th overall...Central Washington did not race at Lacey as all Wildcat teams canceled or postponed activities following the terrorist attacks on America.

Last week's results.

Women's Team Scores 1-Seattle Pacific 36; 2-Western Washington 49; 3-Pacific Lutheran 77; 4-Seattle University 82; Saint Martin's 121.
Individual Results 1-Karen Steen, CNW, 18:36; 2-Rachel Ross, SPU, 19:05; 3-Ashlee Vincent, WWU, 19:07. Also: 8-Dana Cantrell, SPU, 19:46; 9-Jamie Witt, SPU, 19:50; 10-Ruth Hawkinson, SPU, 19:51; 16-Kara Richard, SPU, 20:25; 20-Josie Lavin, SPU, 20:31; 24-Kirsten Bjork, SPU, 20:49; 25-Candy Owens, SPU, 20:49; 33-Leah Paddock, SPU, 21:37; 46-Breanne Rhom, SPU, 22:38; 53-Acadia Giffy-Broghangh, SPU, 23:53.

Men's Team Scores 1-Seattle University 52; 2-Saint Martin's 66; 3-Seattle Pacific 75; 4-Pacific Lutheran 76; 5-Western Washington 99; 6-Highline CC 131; 7-Evergreen 195; 8-Everett CC 220.
Individual Results 1-Eric Tollefson, unat., 25:12; 2-Nathanael Castle, SPU, 26:32. Also: 10-Nick Glancy, SPU, 27:33. Also: 19-Neal Fryett, SPU, 28:14; 23-Zach Grice, SPU, 28:22; 26-Aaron Libadisos, SPU, 28:36; 29-Tim Marston, SPU, 28:41; 30-Scott Van Hess, SPU, 28:47; 39-Paul Mach, SPU, 29:59; 56-Clint Bjella, SPU, 31:49.