Hoosiers host harriers. An altogether new experience awaits members of the Seattle Pacific University cross country teams this week as they descend upon Evansville for the NCAA Division II Championships, hosted by Southern Indiana. A full squad of Falcon men will run 10,000 meters while the women will send one individual representative to the start for a 6-kilometer race.

Real goals. At the rate they’re going, the Falcon men probably won’t be satisfied with anything but bringing home a top-four trophy. Realistically, they may be content with a top-12 placement or, individually, an All-American. Certainly, that’s possible, both for Tim LeCount (Jr., Battle Ground, Wa.) and women’s standout Karen Dickson (So., El Dorado Hills, Ca./Oak Ridge). LeCount was 16th in the regional despite being weak from a recent illness. Dickson was the West runner-up, having kept pace with defending NCAA champion Chelsea Smith of BYU Hawaii most of the way. To earn All-America status, Dickson and LeCount must finish among the top 25 nationally.

Any more magic left? Few would’ve dreamed that the Falcons would still be running so strong, so late in November. Coach Doris Heritage knew all along that her men’s squad would be much improved, but a conference championship, a No. 23 national ranking and the first trip to a national meet in 43 years was far beyond expectation. Yet the men are indeed bound for Indiana following a third-place finish at the West Regional. The last time Seattle Pacific sent a team to a national meet was 1961 and the NAIA Championships in Emporia, Ks. Prior to this autumn, SPU had never won a men’s conference title and had not finished higher than 10th in the region in the last 11 years.

Men at work. Chico State, with its five scorers all among the top 10 individuals, won the West Regional men’s race with 30 points, followed by Cal Poly Pomona with 73. SPU scored 143 and UC San Diego had 154. LeCount, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference winner, ran 16th (33:46) on a course which was 2 kilometers longer than the conference meet. Mark Batres of Cal Poly Pomona edged teammate Daniel Rojas by 2 seconds in 32:09. LeCount got solid support. Bjorn Bostrom (So., La Conner, Wa./Bellingham) was 22nd (34:13), Brian Cronrath (Fr., Battle Ground, Wa.) 24th (34:18), Paul Mach (Sr., Seattle, Wa./King’s) 38th in 34:41 and Doug Gibson (So., Yakima, Wa./Riverside Christian) 44th in 34:53.

A near-miss. Dickson absorbed her first defeat this fall by a collegian, but Smith a junior from Spokane’s Mead High, is no slouch. The defending national and regional champ won in 21:43. Dickson, the GNAC champ, was next in 22:07. She is the women’s first national qualifier since 1999, and it was the school’s best regional finish by an individual since Charlotte Jensen won in 1990. In the team standings, Seattle Pacific just missed a trip to nationals. Alaska Anchorage, which had been third in the GNAC, pushed its fifth scorer across the finish 10 seconds ahead of the Falcons’ fourth and scored 168 points to place third. SPU was fourth with 172. The team’s other scorers were Karin Rohde (Fr., Bellingham, Wa./Mount Baker) in 14th (23:49), Becky Knox (Jr., Denver, Co.) 27th (24:19), Tracy Kuhn (Jr., Port Angeles, Wa.) 64th (25:26) and Nikki Jensen (So., Portland, Or.) 71st (25:35).

One more trophy. Heritage picked-up one more trophy last week. She was named the GNAC men’s coach of the year for managing a minor miracle. Heritage is in her 27th season as head coach. She has been conference women’s coach of the year four times.

NCAA West Regional results.

Women's team scores: 1-Chico State 49, 2-UC San Diego 96, 3-Alaska Anchorage 168, 4-Seattle Pacific 172, 5-Central Washington 178, 6-Cal Poly Pomona 179, 7-Seattle University 225, 8-Western Washington 231, 9-BYU Hawaii 234, 10-Cal State Stanislaus 256 (9 others).
Women's Individuals (6k): 1-Chelsea Smith, BYH, 21:43; 2-Karen Dickson, SPU, 22:07; 3-Laura Trevellyan, WWU, 23:04; 4-Tanya Zeferjahn, CSSB, 23:08; 5-Kelly Fullerton, SU, 23:11; 6-Jennnifer James, CSC, 23:23; 7-Sarah Montez, CSC, 23:29; 8-Ciara Harvey, CSC, 23:30; 9-Mandy Kaempf, UAA, 23:31; 10-Ryan Mayfield, CSUB, 23:39.
Other SPU finishers: 14-Karin Rohde, 23:49; 27-Becky Knox, 24:19; 64-Tracy Kuhn, 25:26; 71-Nikki Jensen, 25:35; 79-Kaitlin Rohde, 25:45; 86-Brandi McCoy, 25:54.

Men's team scores: 1-Chiso State 30, 2-Cal Poly Pomona 73, 3-Seattle Pacific 143, 4-UC San Diego 154, 5-Alaska Anchorage 180, 6-Western Oregon 197, 6-Western Washington 197, 8-Humboldt State 200, 9-Central Washington 229, 10-Northwest Nazarene 231 (7 others).
Men's individuals: 1- Mark Batres, CPP, 32:09; 2-Daniel Rojas, CPP, 32:11; 3-Steven Springhorn, CSC, 32:23; 4-Scott Bauhs, CSC, 32:42; 5-Jasper Peach, HSU, 32:47; 6-Patrick Boivin, CSC, 32:55; 7-Brian Kostock, HSU, 33:07; 8-Chris Layman, CSC, 33:24; 9-Kyle Ivie, CSC, 33:26; 10-Antonio Miramontes, CSC, 33:30.
SPU finishers: 16-Tim LeCount, 33:46; 22-Bjorn Bostrom, 34:13; 24-Brian Cronrath, 34:18; 38-Paul Mach, 34:41; 44-Doug Gibson, 34:53; 50-Eddie Strickler, 34:59; 70-James Rosser, 35:39.

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.