Seims paces Men's Runners to third place at SMU Invite
September 24, 2012
Jamie Foland
474-6807
Lacey, Wash. - Three Alaska runners placed in the top 25 of the men's eight-kilometer race to help the Nanooks take third at the Saint Martin's University Cross Country Invitational on Saturday morning.
The Nanooks tallied 95 team points in the eight-team event. The University of Victoria won with 18 points after having five runners place in the top six, followed by Western Washington in the runner-up position with 42 points. Following Alaska was host Saint Martin's in fourth (125 points), Green River Community College in fifth (142 points), Olympic in sixth (179 points), Evergreen in seventh (181 points) and Club Northwest in eighth (217 points).
Junior Tux Seims paced the team with a 20th-place showing out of 83 entrants after he covered the course in 27 minutes, 19 seconds. He scored 16th and was the 12th Great Northwest Athletic Conference runner to cross the finish line. Victoria's Ryan Cassidy won the men's race in 25:40.
Redshirt freshman Ross MacDougall and sophomore Kenneth Brewer were not far behind Seims as the duo finished back-to-back in 22nd and 23rd places, respectively. MacDougall completed the course in 27:25.51 (17th scoring, 13th GNAC) while Brewer clocked a time of 27:26 (18th scoring, 14th GNAC).
“Tux, Ross and Kenny were up in the lead pack in the first mile and they were able
to work together and push each other for most the race,” interim head coach Matt Dunlap said. “It was neat to see those guys meet up early in the race and work together
throughout the race.”
Other scoring Nanooks on the day were junior Andrew Arnold and freshman John Klein. Arnold was 32nd overall with a time of 28:00 (21st scoring, 19th GNAC) and Klein rounded out the team's scoring in 37th place in 28:11 (23rd scoring, 22nd GNAC). Other Alaska finishers were freshman Nicholas Farrell in 45th place (28:32) and freshman Isaac Lammers in 48th position (28:52).
Dunlap continued, “That's what you're going to see out of this team this year is these guys running as a pack and well together. If we can get five guys right there, we're going to be a more competitive team when we go to GNAC's.”
The Nanooks will rest next weekend before heading to Bellingham, Wash., for the 39th Annual Western Cross Country Classic on Oct. 6.