Tight squeeze. Numbers-wise, it’s the biggest meet of the season for the Seattle Pacific University cross country teams this week. Over 900 runners from 41 teams will descend upon West Seattle’s Lincoln Park for the Sundodger Invitational, an event so large it’s split into four races. Women will run 6,000 meters and the men 8,000. The Falcons will enter teams in both open divisions, with the No. 21-ranked women getting started at 9 a.m. followed by the men at 9:40. Next week SPU participates in the Saint Martin’s Invitational in Lacey.

Calling all teams. Sundodger is hosted by the University of Washington and annually attracts teams from far down the West Coast (UCLA and Cal State Fullerton this year) and from the other time zones as well. Invited to run alongside the Division I types is Seattle Pacific’s Meredith Crane (Jr., Yakima, Wa./Davis), a convincing winner of last week’s Emerald City Open. A year ago, the Falcons’ Karen Dickson finished third in the Div. I section. The open division will be crowded with harriers from the ranks of Division II, III and NAIA, including five teams from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

Follow the leader. Coach Doris Heritage has apparently found a leader in Crane, who effectively takes over the role from Dickson, an All-American and the GNAC champion in 2004. A transfer from Texas A&M, Crane made a smashing debut at Lower Woodland Park, matching Dickson’s winning time from ‘04 and beating the next-best collegian to the finish line by 41 seconds, in 18:16. It earned her GNAC runner of the week and it helped the Falcons handily win the meet by 25 points over Central Washington.

Signs of strength. There were plenty of other encouraging signs for Heritage. The men’s team demonstrated that they will again be a contender in the conference, and the women are bound to only improve. Last year’s GNAC freshman of the year, Karin Rhode (Fr., Bellingham, Wa./Mount Baker), took eighth place (19:19) and prized recruit Mary Moriarty (Fr., Seattle, Wa./Ballard) was ninth (19:23). Josie Lavin (Sr., Bremerton, Wa./Bremerton), the GNAC champion in ‘03, ran 16th in 19:39, and Brandi McCoy (Jr., Richland, Wa.), was 100 seconds in front of her time a year earlier, taking 20th in 19:56.

Solid cast comes through. In the men’s team standings, SPU finished second to Western Washington, 35-48. The Falcons got a balanced effort with their five scorers finishing between slots 7-17. Doug Gibson (Jr., Yakima, Wa./Riverside Christian) finished seventh in 27:24, just ahead of teammates Bjorn Bostrom (Jr., La Conner, Wa./Bellingham), 8th in 27:25, and Brian Cronrath (So., Battle Ground, Wa.), 9th in 27:33. Cronrath’s time was 61 seconds better than ‘04 while Gibson experienced an improvement of 39 seconds. Carlo Lozano (So., Seattle, Wa./Blanchet) was 12th in 27:40 and Eddie Strickler (Jr., Richland, Wa.) 17th in 27:46. Seattle University’s Casey Moriarty, Mary’s older brother, won in 25:38.

Emerald City Open results.
Men's team scores: 1-Western Washington 15, 2-Seattle Pacific 48, 3-Seattle University 81, 4-Northwest 106, 5-Pacific Lutheran 116, 6-Central Washington 139
Men's individuals (8k): 1-Casey Moriarty, SU, 25:38; 2-Angelo Baca, unat., 26:40; 3-Leonard Randall, NW, 26:51; 4-Same Bedell, WWU, 27:17; 5-Sam Brancheau, WWU, 27:20; 6-Michael Stewart, WWU, 27:21; 7-Doug Gibson, SPU, 27:24; 8-Bjorn Bostrom, SPU, 27:25; 9-Brian Cronrath, SPU, 27:33; 10-Chad Portwood, WWU, 27:37. Other SPU finishers: 12-Carlo Lozano, 27:40; 17-Eddie Strickler, 27:46; 23-James Rosser, 27:59; 30-MikeZetterberg, 28:54; 35-Dan Larimer, 29:12; 44-Ryan Phillips, 30:17; 55-Jeff Ayers, 32:47.
Women's team scores: 1-Seattle Pacific 43, 2-Central Washington 68, 3-Seattle University 82, 4-Western Washington 92, 5-Pacific Lutheran 98, 6-Northwest 117.
Women's individuals (5k): 1-Meredith Crane, SPU, 18:16; 2-Meg Busse, SRC, 18:26; 3-Rachel Brewer, unat., 18:31; 4-Laura Trevellyan, WWU, 18:57; 5-Brandy Anderson, CWU, 19:01; 6-Sarah Crissinger, NW, 19:12; 7-Katie Hansen, SU, 19:19; 8-Karin Rhode, SPU, 19:19; 9-Mary Moriarty, SPU, 19:23; 10-Rachel Bailey, CWU, 19:26. Other SPU finishers: 16-Josie Lavin, 19:39; 20-Brandi McCoy, 19:56; 24-Suzie Strickler, 20:05; 27-Teona Perkins, 20:20; 28-Kaitlin Rhode, 20:22; 29-Becky Knox, 20:27; 37-Megan Wrightman, 20:46; 42-Tracy Kuhn, 21:17; 45-Nikki Jensen, 21:30; 58-Sachi Lopez, 22:20; 59-Heidi Peterson, 22:21; 62-Elana Darnell, 22:28; 64-Katie Hart, 22:38

Coaching staff. Coach Doris Heritage (28th year) has guided the SPU women to 10 top-10 national finishes and conference titles in six of the last 10 years. The men won the ‘04 crown. 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. Twenty 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 seven-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 is Lane Seeley, 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.