Prizes in store. With any luck, the vans should be a little more cramped on the ride home Saturday (Oct. 22) as the Seattle Pacific University cross country teams return home from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships in Bellingham. The Falcons are defending their men’s team title while the 13th-ranked women are favorites for both the team and individual crowns. Races at Lake Padden Park will be 6000 meters for women and 8k for men. The regular season concludes Oct. 29 with the Bellevue Community College Invitational, followed by the NCAA West Regional Nov. 5 in Chino, Ca.

Only the beginning. Although the season is winding down for some, hopefully it’s just beginning for the Falcons. Coach Doris Heritage has her strongest women’s team since 1999, when SPU last qualified for the NCAA Championships. Meredith Crane (Jr., Yakima, Wa./Davis) is the unofficial favorite, having won three races, including a convincing performance at Lake Padden Oct. 8. Crane could become the eighth Falcon to claim a conference title in the last 10 years and the third in a row. Karen Dickson was the ‘04 winner and Josie Lavin (Sr., Bremerton, Wa./Bremerton) was first the year before. Central Washington is considered the women’s foremost challenger. The men must beat out No. 20 Alaska Anchorage and host and 24th-ranked Western Washington to retain their title.

Good lookin’. Unbeaten against domestic colleges this fall, the women are poised to take their eighth conference trophy in 13 years and second in three seasons. Yet they hold the depth and potential to accomplish much more as well. Lavin, Karin Rohde (So., Bellingham, Wa./Mount Baker), Mary Moriarty (Fr., Seattle, Wa./Ballard) and Becky Knox (Sr., Denver, Co./Denver Christian) are of all-conference quality. Rohde and Knox were GNAC top-10 finishers a year ago. Moriarty won last week’s varsity-alumni race and was sixth at Lake Padden two weeks ago. No GNAC runner has come closer than 40 seconds of Crane in three races. Her time at Lake Padden for the Western Washington Invitational would have been good enough for runner-up in the ‘04 regional.

It could happen (again). Heritage admits that the men’s chances leave little margin for error. Yet if everyone’s healthy and runs strong, the Falcons could steal the trophy. While many are conceding the individual championship to Seattle University’s Casey Moriarty (Mary’s older brother), Seattle Pacific’s Carlo Lozano (So., Seattle, Wa./Blanchet) should be in the lead pack. Bjorn Bostrom (So., La Conner, Wa./Bellingham), Brian Cronrath (Fr., Battle Ground, Wa.) and Doug Gibson (So., Yakima, Wa./Riverside Christian)–all holdovers from last year’s title-winning team–are proven competitors. Bostrom finished seventh in the GNAC, Cronrath 15th and Gibson was the newcomer of the year. Lozano is coming off two top-10 finishes. Tim LeCount became the Falcons’ first individual conference winner last year.

Western Washington Invitational results.

• Men's team scores: 1-Western Washington 28, 2-Seattle Pacific 46, 3-Seattle University 66, 4-Central Washington 109
  Men's individuals (10k): 1-Casey Moriarty, SU, 31:56; 2-Josh Babiak, SFSU, 32:27; 3-Will Dobbie, CNW, 32:53; 4-Sam Scotchmer, unat., 32:57; 5-Greg Crowther, SRC, 33:08; 6-Carlo Lozano, SPU, 33:10; 7-Ahrlin Bauman, CNW, 33:22; 8-Logan Senrud, WWU, 33:25; 9-Sam Brancheau, WWU, 33:30; 10-Steve DeKoker, CNW, 33:34.
  Other SPU finishers: 14-Brian Cronrath, 33:47; 25-Bjorn Bostrom, 34:23; 32-Eddie Strickler, 34:40; 33-James Rosser, 34:43; 45-Mike Zetterberg, 35:23; 48-Mike Gavareski, 35:44; 67-Ryan Phillips, 37:16
• Women's team scores: 1- Seattle Pacific 20; 2-Seattle University 62, 3-Western Washington 69, 4-San Francisco State 85; 5-Central Washington 152
  Women's individuals (6k): 1-Meredith Crane, SPU, 21:52; 2-Cari Kuzyk, unat., 22:12; 3-Rachel Brewer, CNW, 22:17; 4-Laura Trevellyan, WWU, 22:32; 5-Linda Hyuck, CNW, 22:37; 6-Mary Moriarty, SPU, 22:51; 7-Jen Tonkin, SRC, 22:52; 8-Gwen Greiner, SRC, 23:01; 9-Karin Rohde, SPU, 23:02; 10-Regine Joyce, CNW, 23:07
  Other SPU finishers: 14-Josie Lavin, 23:13; 17-Kim Beaman, 23:39; 18-Suzie Strickler, 23:39; 25-Becky Knox, 24:06; 27-Megan Wrightman, 24:17; Kaitlin Rohde, 24:23; 37-Brandi McCoy, 25:02; 39-Nikki Jensen, 25:06; 40-Teona Perkins, 25:06; 42-Tracy Kuhn, 25:16; 54-Corina James, 25:51; 55-Heidi Peterson, 25:54; 58-Elana Darnell, 26:13; 70-Sachi Lopez, 26:59

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.