BELLINGHAM, Wash. (Sept. 29) -- Nathanael Castle of Seattle Pacific University continued his strong start to the cross country season, running third at the Western Washington Invitational while Jamie Witt was fifth in the women's race Saturday at Lake Padden Park.

In what was likely their final outing before the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships Oct. 13 in Anchorage, the Falcon women were a close fourth in the team standings while the men finished fifth.

Castle (Jr., Gooding, Id.) , who has finished among the top 11 of all four races this fall, completed his first 10,000-meter course of the year in 32 minutes, 56 seconds. Jim Finlayson was the winner in 32:12 and Western Washington's Martin Ranney was runner-up in 32:46.

Central Washington won a close battle with Western, 49-51, for the meet title. SPU had 131 points.

For the women, Witt (So., Folsom, Ca.) followed her fifth-place effort at last week's Sundodger Open with a 6k time of 22:48 and she was the top GNAC runner. Ex-Falcon Shelley Smathers clipped Club Northwest teammate Lindy Huyck for first place in 21:34.

Club Northwest, with seven scorers in the top 15, won with 20 points. Western was second (79), followed by Central Washington (99) and SPU (100). Seattle Pacific's Rachel Ross (Sr., Kennewick, Wa.) and Josie Lavin (Fr., Bremerton, Wa./Bremerton) did not race due to injuries. The course is the same as the one which will be used for the NCAA West Regional Nov. 3.

Women's Results (6000 meters)

Team Scores:
1-Club Northwest 20; 2-Western Washington 79; 3-Central Washington 99; 4-Seattle Pacific 100; 5-Alaska Anchorage 105; 6-Alaska Fairbanks 161; 7-Saint Martin's 183; 8-Skagit Valley CC 230.
Individual Results:
1-Shelley Smathers, CNW, 21:34; 2-Lindy Huyck, CNW, 21:42; 3-Alison Rendell, unat., 22:02; 4-Jessica Scalzo, CNW, 22:30; 5-Karen Tulloch, unat., 22:34. Also: 6-Jamie Witt, SPU, 22:48; 25-Dana Cantrell, SPU, 24:10; 32-Ruth Hawkinson, SPU, 24:33; 41-Kirsten Bjork, SPU, 25:08; 46-Sarah Kraybill, SPU, 25:12; 48-Nicole Seana, SPU, 25:14; 51-Candy Owens, SPU, 25:25; 58-Kara Richard, SPU, 25:39; 70-Leah Paddock, SPU, 26:24; 74-Hailey Armstrong, SPU, 27:05; 88-Acadia Giffy-Broghaugh, SPU, 28:55.

Men's Results (10,000 meters)

Team Scores:
1-Central Washington 49; 2-Western Washington 51; 3-Alaska Anchorage 53; 4-Club Northwest 125; 5-Seattle Pacific 131; 6-Saint Martin's 148; 7-Alaska Fairbanks 195; 8-Evergreen 230; 9-everett CC 241.
Individual Results:
1-Jim Finlayson, IPA, 32:12; 2-Martin Ranney, WWU, 32:46; 3-Nathanael Castle, SPU, 32:56; 4-Zack Boteilho, WWU, 33:13; 5-Tom Gaschk, CWU, 33:15. Also: 32-Neal Fryett, SPU, 35:13; 36-Zach Grice, SPU, 35:41; 49-Tim Martson, SPU, 36:21; 53-Scott Van Hess, SPU, 36:31; 57-Nick Glancy, SPU, 36:48; 82-Clint Bjella, SPU, 39:44.