With four runners finishing in the top 25, the Seattle University women’s cross country team finished in second place, while the men’s team earned a third place finish at the 34th annual Western Washington Invitational Saturday morning at Lake Padden Park.
Katie Hansen (Portland, Ore.) led the Seattle women by finishing in fourth place with a time of 22:51.20, less than a second behind third-place Suzie Strickler of Seattle Pacific. Rachael Johnson (Yakima, Wash.) continued her solid freshman season with a 12th place finish in a time of 23:46.80, while Rachel Yorkston (Bellingham, Wash.), competing in her hometown, finished in 15th in 23:56.30 and Julia Miller (Normandy Park, Wash.) crossed the finish line in 22nd place with a time of 24:30.80.
Greta Stickney (Poulsbo, Wash.) finished in 27th place in 24:54.00, while Kerianne Quiocho (Tacoma, Wash.) crossed the finish line in 36th place (25:20.40). Natalie Martinez (San Francisco, Calif.) earned a 42nd place finish (25:38.10), Jaime Clark (St. Louis, Mo.) finished in 46th place (25:59.50), Haley McGoldrick (Scottsdale, Ariz.) notched a 51st place finish (26:41.70), and Tiffany Hunter (Longview, Wash.) finished in 63rd place (28:39.40).
Five teams, all GNAC schools, and 70 total runners competed in the six-kilometer race. Seattle Pacific won the team title with 25 points, with Seattle University, ranked seventh regionally this week, coming in second with 65 points. Western Washington earned third place with 82 points, just ahead of fourth place Alaska Anchorage (84 points), with Central Washington finishing in fifth place (103 points).
Nathan Heitzinger (Scottsdale, Ariz.) continued to pace the Seattle men, finishing in seventh place with a time of 33:15.80. Nicholas Alvarado (San Francisco, Calif.) and Hans Heitzinger (Scottsdale, Ariz.) finished together in 33rd and 34th places with times of 34:58.30 and 34:58.60 respectively.
Michael Van Nuland (Newcastle, Wash.) earned a 41st place finish with a time of 35:32.70, and Max Cole (Fort Collins, Colo.) rounded out the Redhawk scorers with a 44th place finish in 35:50.30. Other Seattle runners include Graham Miller (Spokane, Wash.) in 46th place (35:52.00), Nick Cannata-Bowman (San Francisco, Calif.) in 49th place (35:55.50), Doug Rudeen (Boise, Idaho) in 53rd place (36:10.00), Adam Kollgaard (Kent, Wash.) in 59th place (36:34.30), Chris Henry (West Seattle, Wash.) in 77th place (39:31.30), and Andrew Wilburn (Boise, Idaho) in 82nd place (41:01.90).
The men’s race totaled ten kilometers and involved 83 runners, including five teams. Western Washington placed seven runners in the top 11 to easily win the team competition with 20 points. Central Washington finished in second with 58 points, followed by the Redhawks with 85 points. Whatcom Community College finished in fourth with 99 points, and Seattle Pacific totaled 123 points for fifth place.
The Seattle University cross country team will have two weeks to prepare for its next race. The top ten men and top ten women will head to Nampa, Idaho, for the GNAC Championships, while the rest of the runners will compete in a meet in Issaquah hosted by Bellevue Community College. Both meets will take place the morning of October 20.