What's Bruin: George Fox Cross Country 2006

Anna McLain and Jake Moe both earned honors Photos: George Fox University

NEWBERG - - Weekly News & Notes

Highlights:

* Coming Up: Sundodger Invitational at Lincoln Park in Seattle

* McLain, Moe Honorable Mention for NWC Runners of the Week

* Coach Hickey's Impressions of First Races as New Coach

Coming Up: Sat., Sept. 16th - Sundodger Invitational at Lincoln Park, Seattle, Wash.

--- 9:00 AM - Women's 6K Open / 9:40 AM - Men's 8K Open

Over 800 athletes will compete in four separate races at the Sundodger Invitational, hosted by the University of Washington. The George Fox teams will compete in the two Open races, which will primarily feature small-college athletes, while the two Invitational races later in the day will feature the major-college runners. Coupled with last-week's season-opening University of Portland Invitational, this is the only time until post-season activity that the Bruins will run on back-to-back weekends. According to first-year head coach John Smith, "We decided to try to run fewer races this year and spread them out because of a tendency the last few years to peak too early and not perform as well as we are capable in the conference and regional races. With time off between events, we should be fresher at the end of the year when the most important races take place. This also gives us better recovery time in case of minor injuries and other aches and pains that typically come in a race."

Bruin Bits:

* McLain, Moe Honorable Mention for NWC Runners of the Week

Anna McLain (Jr., Medina, Wash.) and Jake Moe (Sr., Anchorage, Alaska) received honorable mention for Northwest Conference Women's and Men's Runners of the Week for Sept. 4th-10th as the Bruins' top finishers in the University of Portland Invitational on Sept. 8. McLain was 19th out of 53 overall and 7th among small-college runners in the women's 5K with a time of 19:50.73. Moe was 22nd out of 83 overall and 4th among small-college runners in the 6.4K race with a time of 21:03.87.

* 2006 Honors:

--- Jake Moe - NWC Men's Runner of the Week (HM, Sept. 4th-10th)

--- Anna McLain - NWC Women's Runner of the Week (HM, Sept. 4th-10th)

* Bruin Men Were 4th, Women 5th in UP Invitational

Team scores were not available in the first report of results from the University of Portland Invitational on Sept. 8th at Pier Park in Portland, Ore., but when they finally came in, the George Fox men were 4th out of seven teams in the 6.4K race and the Bruin women were 5th of six in the 5K race.

Final men's team scores: Oregon 26, Portland 29, Willamette 89, George Fox 138, Portland State 140, Western Oregon 163, Clark 199.

Final women's team scores: Oregon 22, Willamette 52, Portland State 64, Portland 114, George Fox 132, Clark 168.

* Coach Hickey's Impressions of First Races as New Coach

Mike Hickey, associate head coach of the George Fox cross country teams, got his first look at the Bruins in competition on Sept. 8 in the University of Portland Invitational and came away with a favorable impression.

"Our men came out running well and were very competitive," the first-year coach observed of the men's team, which finished 4th of seven teams. "Our standouts were Jake Moe and Paul Rapet, as expected, but I was also very impressed with Jordan Ware; he had been a little bit inconsistent in practice but had given us glimpses of running well. He and Rapet are freshmen who had good starts toward good careers. I also thought Grant Finney ran a solid race after having missed all of last season with injuries."

The Bruin women placed 5th of six teams, but Hickey was most pleased by the team's reactions to their first race.

"I think all our women learned a bit about themselves and gained some self-awareness of where we need to go as a team," said Hickey. "In fact, we all gained more knowledge of where we need to go in training and in coaching, and it was great to hear the team talking among themselves as to how they can improve."

The Bruins have three more events between now and the Northwest Conference Championships on Oct. 28, and Hickey says, "From now on, all our conditioning and races are a learning process geared toward preparing for the conference and regionals, although we certainly want to be competitive in every race. But we have some long-range goals, and we want every runner focused on and committed to those goals."

The Coaches:

Head coach John Smith (George Fox '96) is in his first year as the head coach of all George Fox track and field and cross country programs. After eight years as an assistant, he took over in the summer of 2006 upon the retirement of 19-year veteran coach Wes Cook. Smith was a two-time NAIA All-American in the decathlon for the Bruins and still holds the GFU decathlon record (7,138 points). Click here for the complete bio on Coach Smith.

One of John Smith's first acts as the new head coach of the George Fox cross country and track and field programs was to name Mike Hickey (Washington State '98) as associate head coach for cross country. Hickey was head cross country and assistant track coach at Clackmas Community College (1998-2001) and an assistant in both sports at Portland State University (2001-2005) prior to joining the Bruins. Click here for the complete bio on Coach Hickey.

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