The Seattle University men’s and women’s cross country teams will compete in the NCAA Division I West Regional on Friday at Jefferson Park Golf Course in Seattle, Wash.
“First Conference on Halloween, then Regionals on Friday the 13th,” head coach Trisha Steidl said with a laugh back in the last week of October. “We must be lucky.”
The women’s 6k is scheduled for noon, and the men’s 10k will begin after, at 1 p.m.
Last year, the women finished 18th and the men finished 24th. Steidl said her goal this year is to improve on what they did last year. She expects to see her teams finish in the top 20 in the west region.
“We’re hungry,” Steidl said.
COMPETITION
Seattle U men’s and women’s teams will race against other teams in the Division I west region, which this year consist of 37 women’s teams and 32 men’s teams.
With so many people racing, Steidl said every second will count.
“Every point matters because there’s a lot of people out there,” Steidl said. “Everyone needs to bring it on the same day.”
The women’s team is made up of freshman and first team all-WAC Olivia Stein, senior and second team all-WAC Elena Smith, junior and second team all-WAC Lila Rice, junior Moira O’Connor Lenth, sophomore Johanna Erickson, senior Lindsay Frederick, and senior Taylor de Laveaga.
“They’re more confident as the season has gone on,” Steidl said. “They’ve done a good job of building on the good things, and improving on the negative.”
The men’s team is made up of redshirt junior and second team all-WAC Nathan McLaughlin, senior Gus Arroyo, redshirt sophomore Tyler Flannery, redshirt senior Baxter Arguinchona, sophomore Ben Monk, sophomore Matthew Seidel, and redshirt senior Collin Overbay. Redshirt sophomore Joe Charbonneau is the alternate.
“We have to trust our strength and abilities,” Steidl said. “They’re strong enough now to start off aggressively.”
Steidl said this piece of being more aggressive from the start is new to the men, but with a field this size, it’s hard to run together as a team, so they have to push.
FINAL TEST
For many of the runners on various teams competing in Saturday’s meet, this will be their last race of the season.
Seattle University looks to finish strong, treating it like any other meet, while knowing it could be their last.
“We need to be focused and on it,” Steidl said. “We have to run strong, with a lot of perseverance, and with patience.”
Steidl said this is especially true for the men, who will be running a 10k in a meet for the first time this season.
This meet will prove to be a fun one, right in Seattle University’s backyard, with “some of the fastest, strongest runners in the entire NCAA,” according to Steidl.
The NCAA Division I Championships will take place on Nov. 21 in Louisville, Ky.
RUNNERS FROM WASHINGTON
Seattle University has 10 former Washington state high school athletes set to compete in this race.
On the women’s side, there’s Smith from Nathan Hale High School (Seattle, Wash.), Rice from Redmond High School (Redmond), O’Connor Lenth from Holy Names Academy (Seattle), Erickson from Puyallup High School (Puyallup) and Frederick from Nathan Hale High School.
On the men’s side, there’s McLaughlin from Puyallup High School, Flannery from Auburn Senior High School (Auburn), Arguinchona from Lewis and Clark High School (Spokane), Monk from Capital High School (Olympia), and Overbay from Gonzaga Prep (Spokane). There’s also the alternate, Charbonneau, from Bellingham High School (Bellingham).
That’s a total of nine high schools in seven cities throughout Washington state represented on the Seattle University cross country team at the NCAA DI West Regional.