This Saturday, the Seattle University cross country program will host eight schools in the annual Emerald City Open at Lower Woodland Park, beginning with the women’s 6k run at 10:30 a.m. and followed by the men’s 8k at 11:15 a.m.
The schools participating include Seattle University, the University of Washington, Central Washington University, Northwest University, Seattle Pacific University, Skagit Valley CC, Highline CC, New Hope Christian, and Olympic College.
“It’s exciting! My team manager counted up the number of entries and I believe we’re going to have the largest number of competitors we’ve ever hosted at our home meet,” said head coach Trisha Steidl.
The Redhawks are headed into the meet following a week off after competing at the UW Sundodger Invitational in West Seattle. The men and women both finished eighth in their respective invitational events.
“While we had some stand out races at Sundodger, we also had some people who didn’t have great races,” said Steidl. “We need to strive for consistency from meet to meet and throughout the team as a whole."
Runners coming off of strong finishes at the Sundodger include juniors Erik Barkhaus (Whitefish Bay, Wis.) and Matthew McClement (Bellingham, Wash.), senior Michael Van Nuland (Newcastle, Wash.), freshmen Cara Talty (Raritan, N.J.) and Hannah Mittelstaedt (Maple Valley, Wash.), as well as sophomore Lauren Hammerle (Seattle, Wash.).
“It’s our home meet and it’s important we have a good showing on our home course,” said Steidl. “The second half of our season starts with this meet and this will set the tone for what’s to come.”
The men’s race will be followed by an Alumni & Friends 2k Fun Run that begins at noon.