Difference of direction. Once again, the Seattle Pacific University cross country teams will go their separate ways this weekend. A group of 4-5 men plan to join the throng of more than a thousand harriers Saturday (Oct. 5) at the Willamette Invitational in Oregon while the rest of the runners, including the entire women's team, runs against Western Washington in Maple Falls. The men will run 8000 meters in Salem and while the dual distances will be 3 miles for both the men and women at the 11th annual Silver Lake community run. Next week, the Falcons stretch to 6 and 10k, respectively, at the Western Washington Invitational in Bellingham.

One way or another. Seattle Pacific will encounter just about all of its Great Northwest Athletic Conference brothers and sisters this weekend. In addition to the dual with Western, all but Alaska Anchorage will be in action at Willamette. Nathanael Castle (Sr., Gooding, Id.), the men's top scorer, will be amongst the handful headed in that direction, and he should get a good look at the other top males in the GNAC, which holds its championship Oct. 26. Last year Castle took fifth in the league, eighth in the region and qualified for the NCAA Championships.

Rising stock. Well, members of the New York and NASDAQ exchanges definitely have their problems, but the stock of the Falcon runners is unquestionably rising. Coach Doris Heritage was high on both of her teams following their performances at the Sundodger and Saint Martin's meets the past two weeks. The women's squad did particularly well, winning the latter meet while the men-minus Castle-were second. Add Castle and Jamie Witt (Jr., Folsom, Ca.), last year's women's scoring leader, to the mix and SPU could make a good showing at the conference and regional championships.

Standard bearer. Practically each and every female responded with their best race of the year at Saint Martin's last week. Nicole Seana (Jr., Carnation, Wa./Kamiakin) epitomized that improvement, cutting 40 seconds off her 5k time of the previous week to finish sixth-her best placement in three years, when she was runner-up at the conference championships. For her effort, Seana was selected as GNAC runner of the week. Seattle Pacific ran as a pack for the most part, taking places 8-11 to defeat second-place Western, 39-48. Ten Falcons finished among the top 20 overall. Seana covered the 5000-meter course in 19 minutes, 3 seconds. Ashlee Vincent of Western Washington won in 18:26. Sarah Kraybill (Sr., Seattle, Wa./Ballard) was eighth in 19:06, followed immediately by Kirsten Bjork (Jr., Olympia, Wa./Black Hills) in 19:07, Ruth Harbaugh (Fr., Gig Harbor, Wa./Gig Harbor) in 19:08 and Erica Owens (Jr., Normandy Park, Wa./Mt. Rainier) in 19:13.

The man show. For the guys, Tim LeCount (Fr., Battle Ground, Wa.) was fourth overall in 26:27. Miguel Galeana, an unattached runner, won the 8000-meter race in a time of 25:01. Seattle University took the men's title with 33 points, followed by SPU with 61 and Saint Martin's with 75. Ryan Nash (Sr., Spokane, Wa.) finished 11th in 27:21 and all five scorers finished among the top 18.

Trail mix. The dual with Western was moved from the Casey Conference Center, enabling coaches from both teams to view many of the state's outstanding prep runners at the Mount Baker Invitational, which will be run earlier on the same 3-mile course...SPU defeated Western in both the men's and women's duals in their last meeting, in 2000. This season, the men are 2-1 in common meets with the Vikings while the women have split four meets in which both teams entered.

Sundodger Invitational Results

Saint Martin's Invitational Results

Missing links. For the latest and best information on Seattle Pacific University athletics, stay where you're at -- on The Falcons Online. For updated standings and statistics, see the Great Northwest Athletic Conference web site.