Take the long way. In the final regular season race, the Seattle Pacific University cross country teams will not only be stretched but also thinned at Saturday's (Oct. 12) Western Washington Invitational. The Falcons will join four other Great Northwest Athletic Conference teams, plus other small colleges and clubs, in the first men's 10,000 and women's 6000-meter races of the fall. The GNAC Championships will be held Oct. 26 in Seattle.Spots on the line. Runners from all GNAC teams, including Seattle Pacific, will be vying for one of their team's seven spots on the starting line of the conference meet. Furthermore, the women will be adjusting to the distance of both the GNAC and NCAA West Regional. The men will be back down to 8k for the conference and return to 10k for the regional and national events. Other GNAC teams expected to descend upon Bellingham this weekend are Central Washington, Saint Martin's, Seattle University and host Western Washington.

Ready to rumble. A year ago, adding mileage only seemed to benefit Nathanael Castle (Sr., Gooding, Id.). He finished third in the Western Washington Invitational and, later, eighth in the region. If anything, Castle appears stronger this time around. Following a week off, he returned last week to take seventh at the Willamette Invitational, shaving nine seconds off his previous best 8k time in the process. As a junior, Castle became the Falcons' first NCAA Championships qualifier and later was an All-America in track's 1500 meters.

Nicole no fluke. The reemergence of Nicole Seana (Jr., Carnation, Wa./Kamiakin) as a team leader was proven to be no fluke at last week's women's dual with Western Washington. For the second week in a row, Seana emerged as the SPU top scorer, taking third in the dual and sixth overall among females at the Silver Lake run. As a freshman in 1999, Seana was the conference newcomer of the year but for the past two years she has been slowed and even stopped by injuries. Her resurgence could not have come at a better time; Jamie Witt (Jr., Folsom, Ca.), last year's scoring leader, has missed the season to leg stress fractures. Coach Doris Heritage said it's likely that Witt will redshirt this autumn and return in the spring for track.

The week that was. Whether it was Willamette or the dual, Seattle Pacific joined the crowds last week. Castle and his four teammates were among 366 runners in Salem while 169 men and women finished the Silver Lake run. At Willamette, Castle ran with the lead pack throughout the 8k race, which was won by Chris Clancy of Warner Pacific in 24 minutes, 17 seconds. Castle was timed in 24:35 and it was his best placement since being runner-up at the Emerald City Invitational Sept. 7. He was second among GNAC finishers to Humboldt State's Peter Cluesner, who was third in 24:29. Chico State, with two harriers among the top six and all five scorers finishing among the top 14, easily won the team title with 47 points, followed by Eastern Oregon (95) and host Willamette (97). SPU was 17th (480) out of 40 teams. Tim LeCount (Fr., Battle Ground, Wa.) was the Falcons' No. 2 scorer, taking 30th in 25:21--his best time by 30 seconds--but the rest of the team finished far back in the field.Meanwhile, at Maple Falls. Heritage termed the dual meet an optional race and subsequently went north with only one male and missing two of her top women. Still, SPU proved competitive, taking places 3-6. Laura Trevellyan of Western won the collegiate section in 18:24 over 2.9 miles. Seana was timed in 18:44 and followed immediately by Josie Lavin (So., Bremerton, Wa.) in 18:49 and Sarah Kraybill (Jr., Seattle, Wa./Ballard) in 18:58.

Willamette Invitational results.

Western Washington Dual results

Coaching staff. Coach Doris Heritage (25th year) has guided the SPU women to 10 top-10 national finishes and conference titles in six of the last nine years. In 1996 the Falcons won the West Region and her teams finished as high as second in the AIAW (1979, '80) and third in the NCAA (1983, '86) championships. Nineteen harriers have been All-America, including two national champions. The world's premier distance runner of the Sixties, she won five consecutive world cross country titles from 1967-71, and was a member of the 1968 and '72 U.S. Olympic teams. Heritage has coached the U.S. world cross country championship team, served as an assistant at many international meets, including the 1988 Olympics, and is a six-time women's conference coach of the year at SPU. In July of 2002 she was inducted into the National Distance Running Hall of Fame. Heritage was already a member of the U.S. Track & Field and U.S. Track Coaches halls of fame. Assisting Heritage as coaches this season will be Erika (Botha) Daligcon and Lane Seeley. Daligcon ran for the Falcons from 1995-96 and wed former soccer All-America Nate Daligcon earlier this year. Seeley is a physics professor at Seattle Pacific and previously was an assistant to the Blanchet High School program.

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.