Us and them. Scattered about until now, the Seattle Pacific University cross country teams will congregate as a full squad for the first time at a meet Saturday (Oct. 2) for a 3-mile duel with Western Washington in Maple Falls. It’s the first of three trips to Whatcom County this season. Next week the Falcons gather with most of the other Great Northwest Athletic Conference teams for the Western Washington Invitational, which serves as a preview of the NCAA Division II West Regional.

Midway point. Halfway through the regular season, Coach Doris Heritage has lots to talk about. Namely, she has her strongest men’s team in a generation and, on the women’s side, the Falcons once again feature an individual contender for the conference title. The men have now won three meets: two duals and the Emerald City Invitational. They are ranked fifth in the West and second among GNAC teams. Meanwhile, Karen Dickson (So., El Dorado Hills, Ca./Oak Ridge) has set her sights on qualifying for the NCAA Championships, and there is every indication she can make it. Dickson has won three of her four races (four, counting the alumni outing) and is unbeaten against all collegians. Despite the shorter nature of this week’s meet, distances for the women have already begun stretching out to the regional mark of 6000 meters. The men will run their first 10k next week at Lake Padden.

Winter wonderland. In weather which begged more for studded tires than singlets and shorts, the Falcons still managed to prevail in a pair of dual meets with host Alaska Fairbanks last week. Race time temperatures hovered around freezing, yet Dickson and Tim LeCount (Jr., Battle Ground, Wa.) demonstrated both versatility and an ability to adapt to the surroundings, winning individual contests over long and short courses. Both the men’s and women’s teams earned comfortable wins over the Nanooks.

Details, details. After a morning snowfall, the temperature was 32 degrees at race time for the first race in Fairbanks. Dickson’s winning time for the 6k was 22 minutes, 42 seconds. Johanna Turunen of UAF was a distant second in 23:58. Karin Rohde (Fr., Bellingham, wa./Mount Baker) was third in 24:00 and SPU was a 20-35 team winner. LeCount claimed a 5-second win over teammate Bjorn Bostrom (So., La Conner, Wa./Bellingham) in the men’s 8k. LeCount was clocked in 27:12 and Bostrom in 27:17. The Falcons took seven of the top eight places and won 18-41. In the 4k event two days later, the air was slightly colder as LeCount led a parade of four SPU men across the finish line . The Falcons nearly achieved a perfect score in beating the Nanooks 16-39. LeCount was timed in 11:11 seconds, and was followed by Eddie Strickler (So., Richland, Wa.) in 11:18; Paul Mach (Sr., Seattle, Wa./King’s) in 11:20 and Bostrom in 11:25. Dickson pulled away to win handily in 12:52. Her margin of victory was 41 seconds over Turunen. Rohde was a close third in 13:34. The 3-5 runners clinched the outcome, 22-33. Tracy Kuhn (Jr., Port Angeles, Wa.) was fifth (14:07), Megan Wrightman (Fr., Bend, Or.) sixth (14:09) and Nikki Jensen (So., Portland, Or.) seventh (14:23).

Nanook Short Course Invitational results.
Women’s winner (4k): Karen Dickson, SPU, 12:52.
Other SPU finishers: 3-Kar. Rohde, 24:00; 5-Kuhn, 14:07; 6-Wrightman, 14:09; 7-Jensen, 14:23.
Team scores: 1-Seattle Pacific 22, 2-Alaska Fairbanks 33.
Men’s winner (4k): Tim LeCount, SPU, 11:11.
Other SPU finishers: 2-Strickler, 11:18; 3-Mach, 11:20; 4-Bostrom, 11:25; 6-Gibson, 11:45.
Men’s team scores: 1-Seattle Pacific 16, 2-Alaska Fairbanks 39.

Nanook Long Course Invitational results.
Women’s winner (6k): Karen Dickson, SPU, 22:42.
Other SPU finishers: 3-Kar. Rohde, 13:34; 4-Jensen, 24:34; 5-Kuhn, 24:40; 7-Wrightman, 25:01.
Team scores: 1-Seattle Pacific 20, 2-Alaska Fairbanks 35.
Men’s winner (8k): Tim LeCount, SPU, 27:12.
Other SPU finishers: 3-Bostrom, 27:17;5-Mach, 27:39; 6-Gibson, 28:03; 7-Strickler, 28:06; 8-Cronrath, 28:25.
Men’s team scores: 1-Seattle Pacific 18, 2-Alaska Fairbanks 41.

Saint Martin’s Invitational results.
Women’s winner (5k): Kelly Fullerton, Seattle University, 18:04.
SPU finishers: 4-Knox, 19:14; 22-Perkins, 20:38; 58-McCoy, 22:59; Preboski, 23:31.
Men’s winner (8k): Andy Prentice, Saint Martin’s, 26:10.
SPU finishers: 35-Rosser, 28:12; 45-Gavareski, 28:51; 48-Miller, 29:10; 49-Phillips, 29:23

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.