Season Opener a good learning experience for Evergreen

September 06, 2003

by Craig Dickson

SEATTLE, WA -- Saturday's Emerald City Invititational, hosted by Seattle University, was the season opener for the The Evergreen State College 2003 Cross Country squads, one of the more difficult courses in the region. Warm temperatures made it tough for all athletes competing at Lower Woodland Park, in Seattle, Wash.

With school not scheduled to start until the end of the month, not all of the Evergreen runners have arrived yeton so we ran just 5 women and 4 men in today's race.

"Over-all, it was a rusty opener," said head coach Craig Dickson, in his third season, "leaving plenty of work to do to be at where I believe we will be as a team."

Evergreen's top female finisher was freshman Meagan Mower (Olympia, Wash./Tumwater H.S.). One of Sound Sound's best female runners in the early 90's while at Olympia High School, Mower did not attend college after graduation.

"Meagan is proving that she still has the talent she did in High School," said coach Dickson of the 28 year old freshman. "She has shown a great work ethic in practice".

Last years top runner, Candy Owens (Ridgefield, Conn./Ridgefield H.S.) is on her way back to her old form. She struggled with some summer injuries as a result of a fall but is doing great.

Josh Klimek (Centralia, Wash./Centralia H.S.) led the men with his 48th place.

Teammate Nathan Chambers (Tumwater, Wash./Tumwater H.S.) struggled with a bothersome knee, that forced him off the pace he had set with Klimek in the early miles.

"Today's meet was a wake up call for us," Dickson added. "We have not trained to race yet so it's more of a gauge of where to go with our workouts in the coming weeks."

Both Men's and Women's teams will compete at the St. Martin's Invitational this weekend. Again Evergreen will run small squads, entering 5 women and 4 men.