“It was a day to run fast,” freshman Olivia Stein said smiling after the race.
Indeed. Friday, the Seattle University men’s and women’s cross country teams competed against some of the top talent in the nation at the Washington Invitational on the Jackson Park Golf Course in Seattle, Wash.
“Obviously, we’re not going to get better competition than this unless [we’re] at Nationals,” redshirt senior and captain Baxter Arguinchona said. “It was a great competition to get out here on a course we’re coming back to in a few weeks for Regionals.”
The women finished 12th overall with an average time of 21:39, while the men finished 10th overall with an average time of 24:56.
Arguinchona and head coach Trisha Steidl agree that it wasn’t necessarily the results they wanted, but again, the theme for this team is continued growth.
Which is exactly what was seen again Friday amidst the smell of damp grass and freshly kicked-up dirt.
Almost every single runner set a personal record on both sides. And the leaders? Both junior Lila Rice and redshirt junior Nathan McLaughlin – the first Redhawk in each of their respective races to cross the finish line – now hold the best times on the current team’s list of personal records.
In the 6K women’s race, Rice finished in 57th with a time of 21:05.8 – almost one minute faster than her career best.
Steidl was happy with the focus Rice showed.
“Lila did a good job of getting out quick and not getting in over her head, but putting herself in a good, aggressive spot, and she maintained,” Steidl said. “She persevered.”
In the 8K men’s race, McLaughlin finished 65th with a time of 24:28.2 – like Rice, his time was almost one minute faster than his career best.
Steidl noticed the fight he put up to nab that time.
“He went out pretty aggressively and he was able to maintain,” Steidl said. “I saw him really dig in like I haven’t seen him do in quite some time. He’s always strong, he’s a strong guy, and he’s a fighter, but he was really fighting today and really gave it his all.”
Again, Steidl thinks they can only continue to improve.
She said after the races that while the women seemed on the same page, the men were a little more scattered, which she sees as an opportunity to build on.
Overall, Steidl thinks both teams did a great job of pushing through during a race she had said would be the toughest, most competitive race of the season before Regionals.
“We had certain things we wanted to achieve as a group in terms of mindset, and the team did a good job with those things,” Steidl said. “Perseverance, focus, and grit were three of those things, and the team did well on all accounts.”
On the women’s side, three women besides Rice finished sub-22 minutes: junior Elena Smith (21:35.3) finished 70th, junior Moira O’Connor Lenth (21:41.4) finished 74th, and Stein (21:45.1) finished 80th.
On the men’s side, sophomore Matt Seidel finished 82nd and was the only other Redhawk besides McLaughlin to finish sub-25 minutes with a time of 24:53.8.
Steidl was impressed with the way Seidel ran Friday.
“He got into his rhythm, and he got smooth and strong, and he was very confident,” Steidl said. “He had a killer race. That was really good to see. That’s the best I’ve ever seen from him in his whole time here – cross [country] and track.”
As a captain, Arguinchona takes note of the strides his team keeps taking toward moving forward.
“The team’s looking really good – very deep, very strong – and has that drive that we need to go to Conference and hopefully win a WAC Championship,” Arguinchona said.
So, back to training the Redhawks go to continue to build on this work-in-progress that holds a whole lot of promise.
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Other Redhawk runners:
Women – Senior Taylor de Laveaga (22:04.8) finished 89th, sophomore Johanna Erickson (22:23.3) finished 99th, senior Lindsay Frederick (22:40.3) finished 105th.
Men – Arguinchona (25:01.5) finished 87th, sophomore Ben Monk (25:03.3) finished 89th, sophomore Chay Weaver (25:12.5) finished 91st, redshirt sophomore Tyler Flannery (25:19.5) finished 94th, redshirt sophomore Louis Rodrigues (25:22.9) finished 97th, and senior Gus Arroyo – through great determination while dealing with an injury – finished 106th with a time of 27:27.0.