ser i o us t r ack & f i el d • by pau l m erc a
Collegiate cross-country preview T
he 2013 collegiate cross-country season is in full swing for all nine of the state’s NCAA Division I and II programs. The University of Washington, Seattle University, Gonzaga, Eastern Washington and Washington State are taking aim at the NCAA Division I championship meet in Terre Haute, Indiana on November 23rd. And the NCAA Division II schools, Western Washington, Seattle Pacific, Saint Martin’s, and Central Washington, look to be on the starting line at in Spokane the same day. One of the other biggest meets of the collegiate season happens on November 2nd. Seattle University will host the Western Athletic Conference meet at Jefferson Park Golf Course on Beacon Hill. On the same day, Washington and Washington State head to the Pac-12 championship meet in Louisville, Colorado; Eastern Washington will run in the Big Sky Conference meet in Bozeman, Montana; and Gonzaga will compete in the West Coast Conference meet in Malibu, California. On November 9th, Spokane hosts the NCAA Division II West Regional championship meet for the right to return for the national championships two weeks later. All five Division I schools will see each other on Friday, November 15th at the NCAA West Regional meet in Sacramento. The four Division II schools will meet up at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference meet on October 26th in Monmouth, Oregon, before facing off in Spokane. Here are capsule previews of what to expect this season from the state’s nine Division I and II schools.
Division I schools
Washington State: The Cougar men’s team will be led by
St. Martin’s Joe Berger turned heads when he won the St. Martin’s Invitational in September. aric
Division II
becker photo courtesy of
Central Washington: The Wildcats will be led by senior Connie Morgan, and sophomore Dani Eggleston. Both have run to-
st. martin ’s university.
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Australian import Todd Wakefield. The Cougs may have some depth issues, as junior Lee George, senior Andrew Gonzales, and sophomore Forrest Shaffer are the ones with previous bigmeet experience, with senior Drew Jordan reportedly redshirting this fall. Depth will also be a problem on the women’s side, with junior Ruby Roberts the clear leader, along with redshirt senior Courtney Zalud, who is an 800m specialist. The Cougs will need their freshmen and sophomores to step up if they want to get out of the basement. Gonzaga: The Bulldogs will be led by senior Brent Felnagle and Colin O’Neil. Nick Roche has shown that he’s up to the challenge as one of the team’s front-runners, as he finished fifth at the Sundodger meet in Seattle last month. The Bulldog women must re-tool with the graduation of Lindsey Drake and Emily Thomas. Head women’s coach Patty Ley thinks the pieces of the puzzle are in place as the team is led by Lauren Bergam, with Maggie Jones and Laura Tuthill close behind. Eastern Washington: Coach Chris Zeller is optimistic that the Eagles men’s team can get out of the bottom third of the Big Sky Conference with the return of Simon Sorensen, Chris Schroll and Vince Hamilton after a redshirt season, to go along with last year’s number one runner David Thor. The women’s squad will be led by Katie Mahoney, who was redshirted last cross-country season, along with team captain Berenice Penaloza. The Eagles must look to their group of young runners and community college transfers to close the gap between them and their two front runners. Seattle University: The Redhawks will have the daunting task of replacing conference champion Erik Barkhaus and first-team all-WAC-standout Matthew McClement, who both graduated, and Collin Overbay, who is being redshirted this season. Sophomore Nathan McLaughlin has been the team’s early leader so far, finishing as the top runner in two meets this season. On the women’s side, SeattleU is led by WAC steeplechase champ Hannah Mittelstaedt, along with seniors Lauren Hammerle and Jennifer Stolle. Nonetheless, coach Trisha Steidl believes that both of her squads can finish in the top three in the WAC championships. University Of Washington: The women’s squad’s ranking took a slight dip with the news that All-American Megan Goethals will miss the season with a stress fracture in her femur. Katie Flood leads the Huskies. She will have a strong supporting crew with senior Justine Johnson, along with Eleanor Fulton, Maddie Meyers and a pair of the top high schoolers from this state – Katie Knight and Amy-Eloise Neale. Aaron Nelson and Tyler King look to fill the void left by NCAA qualifier Joey Bywater, who graduated. The Huskies have perhaps one of their best recruiting classes, led by Mead standout Andrew Gardner.
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