The Falcons Online -- Seattle Pacific University Athletics

Women Seek To Defend GNAC X-C Title
Pixler, Moriarty Among Contenders; Men Aim for Top 3
October 18, 2006

Trail mix
Seattle Pacific remains unbeaten against Div. II women’s competition. In the latest West Region coaches poll, SPU is first, followed by Chico State, UC San Diego and Alaska Anchorage. The men are 10th...Eddie Strickler (Sr., Richland, Wa.), a regular among the team’s top five scorers, has missed the last two meets and is out for the season with a collarbone fracture...Last year’s top scorer, Carlo Lozano (Jr., Seattle, Wa./Blanchet) might be cleared to run this week. He has missed each meet while recovering from an Achilles injury...Mandy Kaempf of Alaska Anchorage is another top contender for the women’s GNAC championship. Kaempf was third at Western, 14 seconds ahead of Moriarty...David Kiplagat of UAA finished second a year ago and will likely challenge John Riak of Saint Martin’s for the title...Several runners will race at the Bellevue Community College Invitational next week.
*The Fragile Champion,* continues to be available. It is the story of the Falcons’ coach, Doris Heritage, and her unlikely rise to world prominence is detailed by her longtime coach and colleague, Dr. Ken Foreman in his book, . The book is now available for purchase, with a portion of the proceeds going toward the Heritage and/or Foreman Athletic Endowments. Click for details.

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Trolling for gold. Not far from the capitol dome in Olympia, the Seattle Pacific University cross country teams will conduct their campaigns for supremacy of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Saturday morning (Oct. 21), the 10th-ranked Falcons find themselves as one of the favorites for the women’s team title and, along with the men’s squad, aim to build momentum for next month’s NCAA Division II West Regional. Races begin at 10:30 on the campus of Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, with the women running 6000 meters and the men 8k.

A busy day ahead. Now you see her, you you don’t. In her only two races this autumn, Jessica Pixler (Fr., Sammamish, Wa./Eastlake) has been sensational, winning each meet. Of course, that was back in September and now the stakes are raised. Pixler rejoins the team this week but will leave immediately after the race Saturday to join the soccer team for its final home game, which starts at 3 o’clock. Pixler has played in six games for the Falcons, but this will mark the first time she will participate in competitions for both sports on the same day. She won the Emerald City Invitational Sept. 16 and the Sundodger Open Sept. 23.

Wait, there’s Moriarty. It’s possible that Pixler will find her toughest competition coming from a teammate. Mary Moriarty (So., Seattle, Wa./Ballard), last year’s GNAC freshman of the year, is also among the elite conference harriers. Moriarty has finished in the top 10 of all five of her races, including second place (first among collegians) on the Saint Martin’s course Sept. 30. Coach Doris Heritage has seen one of her runners claim the conference crown seven of the last 11 years.

Done that. While the women are seeking to defend their team title and grab their ninth in 14 years, the men are focusing on finishing in the top three. They won the GNAC in 2004 but Western Washington and Alaska Anchorage–ranked 13th and 15th, respectively, in the nation–appear to be out of reach. The SPU men finished second to the Vikings in their last outing. Last season they were fourth.

Honors candidates. Heritage’s teams feature all-conference candidates in addition to Pixler and Moriarty. For the women, both Karin Rhode (Jr., Bellingham, Wa./Mt. Baker) and Jane Larson (Fr., Fall City, Wa./Cedar Park Christian) should vie for places in the top 10. Rhode was 12th a year ago and seventh as a freshman, when she was freshman of the year. The men are led by Bjorn Bostrom (Sr., La Conner, Wa./Bellingham), who looked strong at the Western Washington Invitational, a 10k two weeks ago. He ran 14th and Brian Cronrath (Jr., Battle Ground, Wa.) was 24th. Last season at the GNAC they took 17th and 14th, respectively. Bostrom was seventh as a sophomore. The only Falcon to win a conference race was Tim LeCount in 2004.

Last time out. At the WWU meet, the women's team was seven points shy of Simon Fraser, the No. 1 team in NAIA, 36-43. Western Washington won the men's title by a decisive margin of 32-72 over SPU. Moriarty was the Falcons’ pacesetter for the third time, in 22:36 seconds. Rohde led a cluster in the next pack, finishing 10th (23:03) and Larson was 11th (23:06). Also scoring were Suzie Strickler (So., Richland, Wa.) and Kate Harline (Fr., Orem, Ut.) in 16th (23:11) and 20th (23:26), respectively. Club Northwest's Rose Wetzel, who competed at Georgetown, won in 22:07. It was a particularly pleasing performance for the Seattle Pacific men, who edged Central Washington. Bostrom, in the first 10k course of the season, finished in 33:20. Cronrath took 24th (34:11) and James Rosser (Sr., Seattle, Wa./Highline) was 26th in 34:13. Rounding out the scorers were Chad Meis (Fr., Renton, Wa./Seattle Christian) in 31st (34:22) and Doug Gibson (Sr., Yakima, Wa./Riverside Christian) in 37th (34:36).

Coaching Staff. Coach Doris Heritage (29th year) has guided the SPU women to 10 top-10 national finishes and conference titles in seven of the last 11 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. Former SPU runner Erika Daligcon and physics professor Lane Seeley are the assistant coaches.

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.