In the final cross country meet of her collegiate career, senior Katie Hansen (Portland, Ore.) won her second race of the season, as the Seattle University cross country teams competed in the Beaver Classic hosted by the Beaver Running Club Saturday morning.
Hansen covered the 6,000-meter course in 21:10, 18 seconds ahead of the second-place runner. The women’s team finished in fourth place with 121 points, behind Evergreen State, University of Portland, and Bowerman AC who had all of their top five runners finish in the top ten.
Also finishing in the top 40 were Greta Stickney (Poulsbo, Wash.), who finished just outside the top ten with an 20th place finish in a time of 22:35, and Jen Hamann (Colorado Springs, Col.) who placed 40th with 23:11.
Rhiannon Cadelinia (San Francisco, Calif.) finished 53rd in 23:37, while right behind her were Celeste Cassidy (Bellingham, Wash.) in 54th with a time of 23:37, and Rachel Yorkston (Bellingham, Wash.) in 55th place in 23:42. Natalie Martinez (San Francisco, Calif.) placed 60th with a 24:02 and Sarah Bolce (Sacramento, Calif.) finished the course in 24:38 for a 73rd place finish.
"Katie ran a fantastic race today. I'm proud her tenacity, work ethic, and attitude, all of which helped her make huge improvements over the past three years. It's been an honor to have coached her. The women's team as a whole really stepped things up today. This is the best performance I've seen from them this year and it was a great way to end the season. Rhiannon, Natalie, and Jen H. all had races to be proud of. They truly pushed themselves to have their best races today and it showed," said head Trisha Steidl.
For the third consecutive race, Nick Cannata-Bowman (San Francisco, Calif.) was the top finisher for the Seattle University men, finishing in 20th place in a time of 25:40. Right behind him was Erik Barkhaus (Whitefish Bay, Wis.), finishing in 22nd place in 25:44. The two helped Seattle to a fourth place finish overall.
Hans Heitzinger (Scottsdale, Ariz.) finished in 47th place with a time of 26:17, with Matthew McClement (Bellingham, Wash.) behind him in 50th place in a time of 26:23. Michael Van Nuland (Newcastle, Wash.) had a 58th place finish in a time of 26:33, followed by Adam Kollgaard (Kent, Wash.) in 67th place with 26:47, Chris Auld (Eugene, Ore.) in 100th place with 28:08, and Rustin Winger (Tracyton, Wash.) finishing in 108th place with a time of 28:48.
"Nick and Erik both had tremendous races today. I was very impressed with the execution of their races and feel that was a key factor in them running not only PRs, but also very strong races overall. The entire men's team really showed what their futures hold today. With a group comprised completely of freshmen and sophomores, they showed that they are ready to take that next step towards being a competitive DI team," said Steidl.
The Seattle University cross country teams finished the 2008 season with today’s race. Besides Hansen, it was the final collegiate cross country race for Cadelinia, Hamman, and Martinez.