Nov. 20, 2004

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Western Washington University women's cross country runner Laura Trevellyan earned All-America honors for the second straight year as she placed 22nd among 189 runners in the NCAA Division II National Cross Country Championships on Saturday.

Trevellyan, a junior from Vashon, completed the 6-kilometer course in 22:44.7. The top 25 finishers receive All-America honors. She placed 21st at nationals in 2003.

"She made her coach a little nervous," said Western coach Pee Wee Halsell. "I saw her early in the race and she was way back. The course was pretty muddy and slick ... I'm proud of her. I don't know if I've ever seen her so tired at the end of a race. She gave it her all."

"I got boxed in for the first half mile or so as people were going nuts getting out fast," said Trevellyan of her slow start. "I worked my way up around the corners, and passed people on the outside. That was the strategy I went with because it was pretty muddy on the inside."

"The hills were really steep and it was a pretty long grind in the first part of the second mile, which worked to my advantage in picking people off. The final hill was the really steep one and pretty slick, and then there was long grade to finish, which was not fast because of the mud."

Trevellyan said that she was aware of her positioning throughout the race.

"There were people all along the course yelling approximately where you were, and I was listening. I started out in the 100s, and went from there to the 20s where I stayed for the rest of the race."

The competition was not only Trevellyan's last of the fall, but her last of the school year. Trevellyan, who also is a national caliber distance runner in track, leaves in January to spend winter and spring quarters on an internship in Mexico. An interdisciplinary concepts major at Western's Fairhaven College, she will work in orphanages while improving her Spanish.

Trevellyan has been outstanding this fall, being Western's top finisher in every race. She placed second at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships, and earned a trip to nationals by finishing third at the NCAA II West Regional.

The two runners Trevellyan placed behind at regionals were Chelsea Smith from Brigham Young-Hawaii and Karen Dickson from Seattle Pacific. Smith placed first at nationals for the second consecutive year with a winning time of 22:44.7, and Dickson finished fourth in 21:43.4.