The Falcons Online -- Seattle Pacific University Athletics

14th-Ranked Falcon Women Seek 2nd Win Saturday
Crane 7th At Sundodger; Women 3rd, Men 9th In Open
September 21, 2005

Complete Weekly Release PDF Version
2005 Men's Results	2005 Women's Results
2005 Men's Roster	2005 Women's Roster

Trail Mix

Seattle Pacific essentially bypassed last year’s Saint Martin’s meet. The women won it in ‘01 and ‘02 and have never finished lower than second. The men have taken second and third on two occasions...Western Washington and Western Oregon are expected to join SPU, SMU this weekend...Four SPU fall sports are nationally ranked. In addition to women’s cross country, women’s soccer is No. 2, men’s soccer No. 7 and volleyball No. 18...Adams State (Co.) is the top-ranked team for both men and women in the national coaches poll. Chico State is No. 4 among women and UC San Diego is No. 12... James Rosser (Jr., Seattle, Wa./Highline) is the men’s most improved so far. His No. 4 placement on the team was his best ever and his time was better by 1:09 over last season. Eddie Strickler (Jr., Richland, Wa.), the No. 5 scorer, lowered his Sundodger time by 44 seconds.

Scaling back. One week removed from running with herds of harriers numbering some 300, the Seattle Pacific University cross country teams will enter a race of much smaller scale Saturday (Sept. 24). The Falcons will venture outside the city limits for the first time, making the hour’s drive south to Lacey for the Saint Martin’s Invitational. The women will run 5000 meters and the men 8000. Next week is the Silver Lake Invitational in Whatcom County.

Commanding respect. When Coach Doris Heritage brings her athletes back from their retreat on Whidbey Island, she will be greeted by the good news that SPU is ranked No. 14 among NCAA Division II women’s teams. That’s an improvement of seven spots over last week, and it’s partly based on the encouraging third-place finish in the open division of the Sundodger Invitational. It’s also the highest national ranking since the 2000 season.

More of the same. It’s beginning to be more than just an eery coincidence. Meredith Crane (Jr., Yakima, Wa./Davis) has not only seized the mantle of top scorer, she’s literally tracing the footsteps of Karen Dickson, the Falcons’ ace and All-American from a year ago. First Crane cranked out a victory in the Emerald City Open in a time identical to that of Dickson in ‘04. Last week at Sundodger, Crane received an at-large berth to race with the Div. I schools, just as Dickson had. The result: Crane’s time was within 1 second of Dickson. Crane finished seventh in 21:21 over 6000 meters and reaffirmed the notion that she’s the early favorite for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference title, which Dickson won last season. Crane was just 31 seconds off the pace of Washington State’s Haley Paul, the winner in 20:50.

Still strong. Although they were missing Crane, the rest of the Falcon women still gave a good account of themselves, taking third out of the 23 Div. II, III and NAIA teams in the open division. Simon Fraser (ranked No. 1 in NAIA) and British Columbia were 1-2 with 38 and 89 points, respectively. SPU was next with 177. Jose Lavin (Sr., Bremerton, Wa./Bremerton) put together a solid showing. She was a credible 16th and her time of 22:36 was her No. 2 best clocking for 6k. Right behind Lavin was Mary Moriarty (Fr., Seattle, Wa./Ballard), 19th in 22:38, and Karin Rhode (So., Bellingham, Wa./Mount Baker), 24th in a career-best 22:54. Simon Fraser’s Kristen Kolstad won in 21:43.

Carlo’s way. Heritage was pleased with her men as well. Despite a couple key performers feeling less than 100 percent, the Falcons were ninth and second among the GNAC contingent. Carlo Lozano (So., Seattle, Wa./Blanchet) was the No. 1 scorer, placing 48th in 26:03. Doug Gibson (Jr., Yakima, Wa./Riverside Christian) was two spots back in 26:04, an improvement of 25 seconds from last season. Nick Arciniaga won in 24:39.

Sundodger results.

Women's Invitational individuals (6k): 1-Haley Paul, WSU, 20:50; 2-Dee Olson, UI, 21:02; 3-Ashley Caldwell, UCLA, 21:04; 4-Tori Tyler, UW, 21:08; 5-Claire Rethmeier, UCLA, 21:15; 6-Brooke Lademan, UW, 21:19; 7-Meredith Crane, SPU, 21:21; 8-Ashley Younce, OSU, 21:25; 9-Annaliese Chapa, UW, 21:26; 10-Monik Rothenburger, UCLA, 21:27.
Men's Open team scores: 1-Willamette 45, 2-Portland 72, 3-British Columbia 177, 4-Simon Fraser 182, 5-Western Washington 203, 6-Puget Sound 223, 7-Spokane CC 229, 8-Southern Oregon 266, 9-Seattle Pacific 275, 10-Lewis-Clark St. 302; (18 others)
Men's Open individuals (8k): 1-Nick Arciniaga, TS, 24:39; 2-Nick Symmonds, WU, 24:49; 3-Destry Johnson, TXO, 24:53; 4-Hayden Prosser, SFU, 24:55; 5-Tim Bradley, CON, 24:57; 6-Doug Blackburn, WHW, 24:59; 7-Mark Currell, unat., 25:01; 8-Trevor Palmer, SOU, 25:04; 9-Matt Perez, UP, 25:06; 10-Frank Prince, UPS, 25:07.
SPU finishers: 48-Carlo Lozano, 26:03; 50-Doug Gibson, 27:04; 75-Bjorn Bostrom, 26:23; 85-James Rosser, 26:35; 88-Eddie Strickler, 26:38; 104-Brian Cronrath, 26:53; 165-MikeZetterberg, 27:44; 193-Dan Larimer, 27:59; 216-Ryan Phillips, 28:28; 283-David Duke, 30:02; 290-Jeff Ayers, 30:30.
Women's Open team scores: 1-Simon Fraser 38, 2-British Columbia 89, 3-Seattle Pacific 177, 4-Willamette 181, 5-Lewis & Clark 186, 6-George Fox 210, 7-Eastern Oregon 216, 8-Seattle University 223, 9-Central Washington 230, 10-Lewis-Clark St. 238; (13 others).
Women's Open individuals (6k): 1-Kristen Kolstad, SFU, 21:43; 2-Meaghan McCollum, UBC, 21:51; 3-Shannon Elmer, UBC, 21:58; 4-rebecca johnstone, SFU, 22:09; 5-Julia Howard, SFU, 22:11; 6-Meredith McGregor, SFU, 22:13; 7-Carla McHattie, L&C, 22:17; 8-Laura Trevellyan, WWU, 22:18; 9-Kristi Dickey, WHW, 22:19; 10-Sarah Smith, PAC, 22:22.
SPU finishers: 16-Josie Lavin, 22:36; 19-Mary Moriarty, 22:38; 24-Karin Rhode, 22:54; 60-Suzie Strickler, 23:50; 67-Becky Knox, 23:55; 75-Megan Wrightman, 24:02; 77-Tracy Kuhn, 24:03; 90-Brandi McCoy, 24:18; 101-Kaitlin, Rohde, 24:28; 108-Nikki Jensen, 24:35; 120-Kim Beaman, 24:48; 164- Heidi Peterson, 25:34; 197-Elana Darnell, 26:22; 206-Sachi Lopez, 26:5.

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.