The Seattle University cross country team has finished its final preparations for the 2010 Great West Conference Championships, hosted by Texas-Pan American in Edinburg, Texas, this Saturday, Oct. 30th.
Racing for the Redhawks will be the top seven finishers on both the men’s and women’s teams from the Beaver Classic. In the second year of racing in the Championships, both teams are more experienced and better prepared for the championship atmosphere.
“We learned a lot from our experiences last year in regards to traveling and being in a smaller field for the conference meet than we are in our regular season meets,” said head coach Trisha Steidl.
The women are coming off of their strongest showing all year long from the Beaver Classic last week. Freshman Cara Talty, the frontrunner for the Seattle U team, will be making her first appearance at the Championships.
She will be joined by returners senior Allison Prather (Carpinteria, Calif.) and junior Celeste Cassidy (Bellingham, Wash.), as well as Ashley Dalton (Bellingham, Wash.), Lauren Hammerle (Seattle, Wash.), Hannah Mittelstaedt (Maple Valley, Wash.), and Sarah Bolce (Sacramento, Calif.).
“The results from the Beaver Classic show that the women’s team is ready to go,” said Steidl. “We have to execute well on race day and prepared and willing to dig deep when it gets tough.”
Junior Erik Barkhaus (Whitefish Bay, Wisc.) has been the top runner for the men’s team this year. Matthew McClement (Bellingham, Wash.) returns after earning Second-Team All-Conference honors in last year’s championship meet. Also returning to the championships for the second year are seniors Michael Van Nuland (Newcastle, Wash), Adam Kollgaard (Kent, Wash.), and Hans Heitzinger (Scottsdale, Ariz.), sophomore Kelton Sears (Maple Valley, Wash.). Jeff Baklund (Auburn, Wash.) will be making his first appearance.
Last year, the men’s team came in second behind champion Utah Valley, and it is expected that they will again be challenging UVU as well as trying to open the gap with the teams behind them.
“Based on our season and theirs, they should still be on top, but we definitely have a fighting chance. Our men’s team is considerably stronger and more experienced this year,” said Steidl.
The women’s race is scheduled to begin at 8:00 a.m., with the men’s event following at 8:45 a.m. (Central).