Newly coached Saints aim for NWACs

It isn’t every day that MHCC’s cross-country program gets to take on one of the top 10 programs in the nation.

First-year head coach Jim Satterfield and the Saints did exactly that on Sept. 20, during the annual Oak Knoll Loop Run in Independence, Ore., near Salem.

Satterfield served as an assistant coach at Mt. Hood for two years prior to taking over the helm for retired coach Matt Hart.

“I have never enjoyed my work so much in my entire life,” said Satterfield, perched in his office chair. “This is the perfect job, for the perfect athlete (long-distance) that I could coach. And I’m just as satisfied helping our No. 5 runner as I am our No. 1 runner.”

The Saints men competed against No. 6 University of Portland and Willamette University, while the women took on lone competitor Willamette in their first meet of the season.

MHCC newcomer and freshman Georgia Glovatsky paced the women’s 5K run. She finished in second place with a time of 18:35.9. She trailed only Willamette junior Taylor Ostrander, who won with a time of 18:35.7, just barely breezing past Glovatsky.

“She (Glovatsky) had the lead for the whole race, sometimes 50 to 70 meters,” Satterfield said. “All of the top three girls finished within one second. I think she got a little too anxious. She made a decisive move too far out.”

The Saints women finished with 44 points, compared to Willamette’s 19.

As expected, the Pilots men’s squad won by a landslide and captured first place with 27 points. Willamette finished with 37 points and the Saints 63, respectively.

Saints sophomore Brandon Raleigh captured ninth place with a time of 25:46.4 in the 8K – not too bad for the 34-man field.

Freshman Michael Francy finished in 12th place, with a time of 26:07.0. Satterfield is really excited about the upside of his young runner.

“That was Michael’s first college meet and he was 11 seconds behind Brandon,” Satterfield said. “And Brandon ran 30 seconds faster than he did a year ago (at the same race). Michael is ahead of where Brandon was last year.”

First place belonged to University of Portland redshirt-senior and Golden, Colo., native Scott Fauble. He finished with a time of 24:46.5. And the Pilot men finished 1-2-3.

Fauble, who finished 26th at the NCAA championships in 2012, wasn’t paying too much attention to his pursuers.

“To be honest, I didn’t really take a whole lot of notice of either of the other teams who were there,” he said afterward. “I was just running this meet to get back into the routine of racing. It was really more of a workout for me. I can’t really speak to how well MHCC did, I don’t have enough knowledge about their team to comment with any authority.”

Pilots head coach Robert Connor gave praise to the young Saints thinclad athletes.

“I was very impressed with Mt. Hood’s performance,” said Connor, now in his 24th year with the Pilots program. “Those kids were up against two very well established programs and held their own.”

Asked if any extra nerves started to kick in, Mt. Hood’s Raleigh simply said, “It was exciting running against a prestigious team like UP. I think it helped elevate our performance because we were going up against a talented program.

“My mindset throughout the race was to stay relaxed and run a smooth even paced race and to hunt in the later stages of the race,” he added.

Satterfield was impressed, overall, with both of his squads and said they’re on pace for having another solid season.

He wouldn’t go as far as saying NWAC champions, quite yet.

This weekend, the Saints will get a good look at their competition. The team travels to Battleground, Wash., to compete in Saturday’s NWAC Preview Meet.

Asked how good his runners could be, Satterfield smirked and said, “We will find out this week. They (competitors) will all be there!”

He added, “We have some work to do. At this point we’re where we need to be. ”