A look ahead. The future begins to come into focus for the Seattle Pacific University cross country teams this week. In what amounts to a preview of next month’s regional meet, the Falcons will run at the Western Washington Invitational at Bellingham’s Lake Padden Park Saturday (Oct. 9). After that, there’s a one-week break from racing prior to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships in Arcata, Ca., Oct. 23.

View to a preview. While SPU and seven other GNAC teams will be present at Lake Padden, the California teams will not venture north to preview the 10,000-meter trail for men and the 6k for women. The races begin at 10:30 and 11:45, respectively. Still, the harriers will get an idea of when to make their moves on the course, and they also get one last look at their competition in the conference. The Falcons have seen Central Washington, Saint Martin’s, Seattle University and host Western Washington, but this will be the first encounter with Alaska Anchorage, Humboldt State and Northwest Nazarene. Those schools are all ranked among the top seven men’s teams in the West. Seattle Pacific is the defending WWU Invitational winner while the Vikings have won the last two men’s titles.

A somber week. For all but six of the SPU runners, this will be the first race in two weeks. Rather than compete in a dual with Western at Maple Falls, the majority of returnees on the two squads chose to attend a memorial service in Tacoma for Micah Kellcy, a teammate for the past track seasons. Kellcy was killed in a motorcycle accident Sept. 26. He had been an all-conference intermediate hurdler and graduated last spring.

By the shores of Silver Lake. Freshman Karin Rohde (Fr., Bellingham, Wa./Mount Baker) finished 10th overall and second in the dual but the undermanned Falcon women were defeated by Western Washington, 20-41, at Silver Lake. The Vikings, paced by race runner-up Laura Trevellyan, claimed seven of the first nine scoring slots. Rohde completed the 3-mile trail in 19 minutes, 16 seconds. Stafanie Mills was the winner in 17:14 and Trevellyan was next in 18:10. Kaitlian Rohde (Fr., Bellingham, Wa./Mount Baker) was the team’s No. 2 scorer and took sixth in the dual in 20:36. SPU had only one male.

Ones to watch. While this week will be the first 6k for most of the GNAC women, that distance has already suited the Falcons’ Karen Dickson (So., El Dorado Hills, Ca./Oak Ridge) just fine. Dickson has won three of her four races (four, counting the alumni outing at Lake Padden Sept. 4) and is unbeaten against all collegians. A qualifier for the NCAA track 10k last spring, she completed the Sundodger Invitational 6k in 21:20. The winning time at last year’s WWU Invitational was 21:59. Meanwhile, this is the first 10k for virtually every male in the GNAC. Tim LeCount (Jr., Battle Ground, Wa.) ran ninth at Lake Padden a year ago in 32:57.

Western Washington Dual/Silver Lake Invitational results.
Women’s winner (3mi.): Stafanie Mills, 17:14.
SPU finishers (dual places): 2-Kar. Rohde, 19:16; 6-Kai. Rohde, 20:36; 10-Preboski, 21:13; 11-Edholm, 21:26; 12-Muench, 24:14.
Team scores: 1-Western Washington 20, 2-Seattle Pacific 41.
Men’s winner (3mi.): Steve Murenbeeld, 15:23.
SPU finishers: 47-Miller, 17:47.

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.