Before the season started, both SeattleU teams were picked to finish fifth by the conference coaches in the preseason poll. Utah Valley, the defending women's cross country conference champion, was picked to win the conference title in both the men's and women's races. Texas-Pan American, picked to finish second in the men's race, will defend the men's cross country league title.
On the men's side, junior Hans Heitzinger (Scottsdale, Ariz.) was the team's top finisher in the first four events of the season, posting a season-best time of 25:35.51 at the Sundodger Invitational. Nicholas Alvarado (San Francisco, Calif.) was the team's top finisher at the Mike Hodges Invitational, and Matthew McClement (Bellingham, Wash.) posted the best eight-kilometer time of the season at the Beaver Classic, finishing the course in 25:17.
Freshman Kelton Sears (Maple Valley, Wash.) has been a significant addition to the team this season, posting a season-best time of 25:24 at the Beaver Classic. Juniors Adam Kollgaard (Kent, Wash.) and Michael Van Nuland (Newcastle, Wash.) as well as sophomore Erik Barkhaus (Whitefish Bay, Wis.) have also shown significant improvement throughout the season and look to cap off the year with a strong performance at the conference meet.
The women will be led by seniors Rachel Yorkston (Bellingham, Wash.) and Greta Stickney (Poulsbo, Wash.), one of whom was the top SeattleU runner in four of the team's six events so far this season. Stickney posted the team's fastest six-kilometer time at last Saturday's Beaver Classic with an effort of 23:00, with Yorkston's best time coming just seven seconds behind Stickney.
Sophomore Celeste Cassidy (Bellingham, Wash.) is the other veteran to make the trip to New York after a solid season, including finishing as the squad's top runner at the Sundodger Invitational with a time of 23:29.84. Junior transfer Brittney Hovdenes (Rapid City, S.D.) and freshmen Lauren Hammerle (Seattle, Wash.) and Jennifer Stolle (Seattle, Wash.) have established themselves as top-notch competitors during the season. Allison Prather (Carpinteria, Calif.), another newcomer to the SeattleU cross country team, continually improved as the season went along, grabbing the final team spot for the conference meet at the Beaver Classic with a season-best time of 24:43.
Besides Utah Valley and Texas-Pan American, Seattle University will be competing against host school NJIT as well as Chicago State, Houston Baptist, North Dakota, and South Dakota. This is the first Division I conference championship event for Seattle University as a Division I school since the start of the reclassification process in the fall of 2008.
The eight-kilometer men's race is set to begin at 8:45 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, with the six-kilometer women's race scheduled to start at 9:45 a.m. The top seven finishers in each race will be named first team all-conference, with the next seven finishers earning second team all-conference honors.