Annika Esvelt of Seattle Pacific finishes fourth at NCAA D2 title race in soggy Sacramento...
SACRAMENTO-- Seattle Pacific's Annika Esvelt's (Paul Merca photo) racing mindset has been to stick her nose in with the leaders and see how fast and how far she can go with them. The Falcon senior, who was a four-time All American on the track, but had never competed at the NCAA cross country championships, trusted herself all the way to a fourth place finish at the NCAA Division II men's and women's cross country championships on a cool and cloudy day at the Arcade Creek Cross Country Course at the Haggin Oaks Golf Course Saturday morning. Esvelt traversed the 6k course in the final race of the day, running 20:35, six seconds away from winner Lauren Kiley of Grand Valley State, and four seconds behind GNAC nemesis and conference champion Kendall Kramer of Alaska Fairbanks. "It was so much fun – it was muddy, extremely muddy. But it was just really fun," Esvelt said. This was Seattle Pacific's first top-10 finish since 2009 when Falcons Hall of Famer Jes
