Led by another top ten finish from redshirt senior Erik Barkhaus (Whitefish Bay, Wis.), the Seattle University men's cross country team finished sixth at the 2012 Dellinger Invitational, while the women finished in seventh place Saturday morning at the meet hosted by the University of Oregon at Springfield Country Club.
Barkhaus finished seventh out of 101 runners with a time of 23:56, just 18 seconds behind race winner Trevor Dunbar of Oregon. Barkhaus finished one second ahead of the top runner from the University of Washington, Joey Bywater, as well as 22 seconds in front of Barry Britt, the leading finisher for WAC rival Idaho.
Matthew McClement (Bellingham, Wash.) and Collin Overbay (Spokane, Wash.) finished the eight-kilometer race close together, with McClement crossing the finish line in 45th place in 24:58, followed by Overbay in 46th place in 24:59. Ryan Dennison (Pacifica, Calif.) finished in 54th place with a time of 25:10, with Graham Kinzel-Grubbs (Portland, Ore.) posting a time of 25:44 and Jeff Baklund (Auburn, Wash.) finishing in 25:49, ending up in 76th and 77th places, respectively.
Baxter Arguinchona (Spokane, Wash.) finished the event in 92nd place with a time of 26:40. As a team, the Redhawk men collected 181 points for a sixth place finish out of 10 teams, finishing ahead of Sacramento State, UMass Amherst, UC Riverside, and conference foe Idaho.
"The men's team's performance honestly blew me away. I did not expect to finish sixth. They were hungry and left it all out on the course today," Seattle U head coach Trisha Steidl said. "I liked the overall intensity I saw out there today. We still have work to do, but this was a tremendous step in the direction we need to go to reach our season goals."
Hannah Mittelstaedt (Maple Valley, Wash.) once again led the Seattle U women, finishing in 38th place with a time of 18:11 over the five-kilometer course. Jennifer Stolle (Seattle, Wash.) crossed the finish line in 45th place in 18:23, while Sophie Curatilo (Honolulu, Hawaii) finished in 53rd place with a time of 18:46.
Madison Davis (Camano Island, Wash.) was next for the Redhawks, finishing in 58th place with a time of 19:04, followed by Taylor de Laveaga (Gilbert, Ariz.) in 61st place in 19:23 and Justine Bates (Arlington, Wash.) in 64th place in 19:37. The women finished in seventh place as a team with 203 points.
"There were some solid performances on the women's team, but as a whole, they didn't race to their full capabilities today. Becca (Lassere) getting injured during the race was obviously a big blow. We're going to regroup and be ready to fire on all cylinders in two weeks," said Steidl.
The Seattle University cross country teams will host the Emerald City Open at Lower Woodland Park Saturday, Oct. 13, with the women's six-kilometer race starting at 10:30 a.m. and the men's eight-kilometer event beginning at 11:15 a.m.