Trail Mix

The Falcons have enjoyed their trips to Fairbanks, with the women winning their dual with UAF in ‘92 and ‘00 and the men taking second in three-way meets involving Alaska Anchorage...Based on her pace for the 6k, Dickson would have beaten her ‘03 time over the Sundodger 5k by 85 seconds...Seattle U. and Western Washington are also scheduled to run at Saint Martin’s where the distances will be 5 and 8k.

Karen Dickson is shaping-up to be an early favorite for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference title.

Let’s wear wool. Just when it seemed like summer was returning for a last stand here in the Pacific Northwest, the cross country teams from Seattle Pacific University will leave to get a sneak peak of winter. The Falcons’ travel squad will run in a pair of meets at Alaska Fairbanks before returning to their home state for the remainder of the regular season. SPU will first meet the Nanooks on their campus cross country skiing course for races of 5000 and 8000 meters Thursday afternoon (Sept. 23). A shorter, 4k race is Saturday (Sept. 25) while another group of SPU harriers compete the same day at the Saint Martin’s Invitational. Next week is the dual with Western Washington at Maple Falls.

It will feel like December. There’s cold rain, and then there’s really cold rain. Everybody got a dose of the former at last week’s Sundodger Invitational, when high temperatures dipped to a record low and a downpour threatened to turn the trails into a slick track. Awaiting Seattle Pacific up north in Fairbanks is something out of a bleak December day in the Northwest. Forecasts for Thursday are a high of 37 degrees and rain showers. Snow is the buzzword for Friday, but clear and cold (35) is the forecast for Saturday. This is the Falcons’ third trip to Fairbanks and fourth to Alaska in the last 12 years. They also encountered snow at Fairbanks in September of 1992.

She’s for real. Yes, the Falcons lost a conference champion, but they may have found one as well. Karen Dickson (So., El Dorado Hills, Ca./Oak Ridge) is shaping-up to be an early favorite for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference title, based on her first few outings. Dickson was a repeat selection as GNAC runner of the week following the Sundodger meet. She was the top collegiate runner of the 118-strong, mostly Division I field, and finished third overall, covering the 6000 meters in 21 minutes, 20 seconds. The week before, Dickson had won the Emerald City Invitational. She was an NCAA qualifier in the 10,000 last spring after placing 32nd in the GNAC cross country championships in the fall, where the Falcons’ Josie Lavin was the victor. Club Northwest’s Sabrina Munro, formerly of Washington, was the runaway invitational winner in a course-record 20:09. Jeanine Hagedorn of San Francisco was the runner-up collegian and fourth overall in 21:21.

The rest of the story. The SPU men, coming a victory at Emerald City, took seventh in the men’s open division and were first among three GNAC teams. Tim LeCount (Jr., Battle Ground, Wa.) was once again the Falcons’ top scorer, taking 19th. His time for 8k was 25:48. Bjorn Bostrom (So., La Conner, Wa./Bellingham) was 26th in 26:04–an improvement of 1 minute over his time as a freshman. Brandon Reiff won in 24:38 and Simon Fraser swept both the men’s and women’s open team crowns. The remainder of the Seattle Pacific women, competing in the open division, were eighth. In her season debut, Becky Knox (Jr., Denver, Co.) was top scorer, taking 30th in 18:53 over a 5k course. That was a significant improvement over a year ago, when she was clocked in 20:05. Karin Rohde (Fr., Bellingham, Wa./Mt. Baker) was 43rd in 19:14.

Sundodger Invitational results.
Women’s winner (invitational division/6k): Sabrina Munro, Club Northwest, 20:09.
SPU finishers: 3-Karen Dickson, 21:20.
Women’s team scores (open division/5k): 1-Simon Fraser 21, 2-British Columbia 61, 3-Lewis-Clark St. 141, 4-Central Washington 172, 5-Eastern Oregon 192, 6-Puget Sound 199, 7-Western Washington 238, 8-Seattle Pacific 244, 9-Whitworth 246, 10-Pacific Lutheran 256, 11-Boise State 263, 12-Southern Oregon (6 others).
Winner: Karen Dickson, SPU, 18:16. SPU finishers: 30-Knox, 18:53; 43-Kar. Rohde, 19:14; 53-Wrightman, 19:27; 70-Kai. Rohde, 19:49; 77-Jensen, 19:55; 84-Kuhn, 19:59; 133-Preboski, 20:47; 142-Perkins, 20:57; 146-Edholm, 21:02; 190-Rohm, 22:18; 199-Schumacher, 22:42; 201-Chatfield, 22:54; 213-Muench, 23:32.
Men’s team scores (open division/8k): 1-Simon Fraser 61, 2-Eastern Oregon 106, 3-British Columbia 133, 4-Spokane CC 138, 5-Southern Oregon 143, 6-Puget Sound 149, 7-Seattle Pacific 187, 8-Whitworth 203, 9-Lewis-Clark St. 234, 10-Western Washington 240, 11-Lewis & Clark 266, 12-Clackamas CC 298 (7 others).
Winner: Brandon Reiff, unat., 24:38.
SPU finishers: 19-LeCount, 25:48; 26-Bostrom, 26:04; 44-Gibson, 26:29; 60-Mach 26:41; 76-Cronrath, 27:02; 87-Strickler 27:12; 98-Lim 27:24; 116-Rosser 27:44; 123-Miller 27:57, 191-Phillips 29:06; 198-Gavareski 29:18.

Coaching staff. Coach Doris Heritage (27th 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 January of 2003 she was inducted into the Falcon Legends Hall of Fame Heritage was already a member of the National Distance Running, U.S. Track & Field and U.S. Track Coaches halls of fame. Assisting Heritage as coaches again this season will be Erika (Botha) Daligcon and Lane Seeley. Daligcon ran for the Falcons from 1995-96. Seeley is a physics professor at Seattle Pacific.

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.