November 8, 1998

SEATTLE -- Eric Tollefson of Tacoma and Lori Durward of Richmond, B.C. took top honors at Sunday's Pacific Northwest Association Championships cross country meet held at Lower Woodland Park. Tollefson, a former All-American at Central Washington University who currently lives in Tacoma, clocked 30:01 to win the 9.7-kilometer (6-mile) men's race. Durward, a dental student at the University of British Columbia, covered the 5.9-kilometer (3.7-mile) women's course in 21:06. Both were awarded $200 for their overall victories, while Tollefson garnered an additional $100 as the top finisher from Washington state.

The two employed different tactics en route to their respective victories. Durward led wire-to-wire, while Tollefson trailed for most of the race before sealing his win with a late surge. "I was hoping I would be able to follow somebody, but the girls decided to go out a bit conservative, so I tried just pushing myself," said Durward. A 5:27 opening mile put her five seconds ahead of the field, after which point she was not seriously challenged. Canadian Courtney Babcock of Montana's Mountain West Track Club used a strong last half-mile to take second place in 21:22, just ahead of Edmonds' Shelley Smathers (3rd, 21:26), the top female finisher among Washington state residents.

On the men's side, Tollefson chased Seattle's Rob Cook around much of the hilly Lower Woodland course before gradually pulling away over the last mile and a half. "I was just trying to stay with Cook for as long as I could," said Tollefson. "I took the lead ... because I was worried that [Craig] Dickson was catching us." Cook, the winner of this race in 1996 and 1997, wound up second with a time of 30:15, while Olympia's Dickson placed third in 30:21.

In the men's team competition, local powerhouse Club Northwest took on the Portland-based Red Lizards. Dickson and Uli Steidl (4^th place, 30:35) led the Club charge, but the Lizards captured places five through eight to clinch a narrow one-point victory, 27 to 28.

Danielle Kabush (6th place, 21:42) led Club Northwest to an uncontested triumph in the women's team division.

Michael Smith of Renton and Kimball Bender of Seattle won the 5.9-kilometer masters (40-and-over) races with respective times of 19:52 and 22:48.

RESULTS

Women's Championships (5.982 km)
1 Lori Durward, Kajaks/CAN, 21:06
2 Courtney Babcock, Mountain West, TC 21:22
3 Shelly Smathers, New Balance, 21:26
4 Jennifer Hillier, Asics TC, 21:31
5 Judith LeRoy, Unattached, 21:32
6 Danielle Kabush, Club Northwest, 21:42
7 Emily Andersen, Club Northwest, 2 21:55
8 Mindy Leffler, Club Northwest, 22:09
9 Kathleen Harri, Club Northwest, 22:33
10 Kathy Kanes, Moving Comfort, 22:34
11 Karen Steen, Club Northwest, 22:40
12 Elizabeth Stahl, Club Northwest,22:44
13 Beth Mulligan, Club Northwest, 22:52
14 Monica Vadocz, Unattached, 23:28
15 Shelley Williams, Club Northwest, 23:38
16 Amy Rose, Unattached, 23:45
17 Joanne Templeman, Club Northwest, 23:51
18 Mollie Starr, Unattached, 23:53
19 Joelle Brayton, Club Northwest, 23:57
20 Michelle LaSala, Unattached, 23:58
21 Shannon Larsen, Unattached, 24:04
22 Emily Mullen, Unattached, 24:26
23 Laura Haines, Unattached, 24:30
24 Laura Becker, Unattached, 24:45
25 Rhonda Mazza, Unattached, 24:51
26 Ann Richter, Unattached, 24:57
27 Shelly Hack, Unattached, 25:01
28 Laura Lewis, Unattached, 25:16
29 Alicia Savage, Unattached, 25:30
30 Krista Carlson, Unattached, 25:53
31 Jessica VanFleet, Unattached, 26:15
32 Terra Misner, Unattached, 26:22
33 Maiya Atkins, Unattached, 26:35

The women's team champions were Club Northwest with 15 pts

Men's Championships (9.782 km)
1 Eric Tollefson, Unattached, 30:01
2 Rob Cook, New Balance, 30:15
3 Craig Dickson, Club Northwest, 30:21
4 Uli Steidl, Club Northwest, 30:35
5 Ian Solof, Team Red Lizards, 30:41
6 John Dimoff, Team Red Lizards, 31:13
7 Tim Julian, Team Red Lizards, 31:14
8 Paddy McCluskey, Island Pacific TC/CAN, 31:17
9 David Sobolik, Team Red Lizards, 31:20
10 Chris Ledford, Club Northwest, 31:21
11 Dan Franek, Club Northwest, 31:25
12 Andy Martin, Team Red Lizards, 31:30
13 John Hil,l Club Northwest, 31:32
14 Miguel Galeana, Club Northwest, 31:40
15 Nick Rogers, Unattached, 31:47
16 Steve Andersen, Discount Jogging Club, 31:49
17 Ben Sauvage, Club Northwest, 13 32:15
18 Bruce McDowell, Club Northwest, 32:16
19 Bertrand Plouvier, Kajaks/CAN, 32:24
20 Brian Montgomery, Club Northwest, 32:35
21 Chris Cook, Team Red Lizards, 32:39
22 Dan Schruth, Unattached, 32:42
23 Chris Engel, Fort Steilacoom, 32:50
24 Bill Sheel, Kajaks/CAN, 32:53
25 Wayne Bunce, Team Red Lizards, 33:00
26 Jim Rucker, Unattached, 33:02
27 Dwight Jonsson, Unattached, 33:33
28 Dan Salazar, Club Northwest, 33:40
29 Nathan Spear, Club Northwest, 33:46
30 Steve Glass, Unattached, 33:52
31 Tom Moritz, Team Red Lizards, 33:55
32 Jason Cadman, Unattached, 33:59
33 Mark Davies, Club Northwest, 34:03
34 Noah Megowan, Team Red Lizards, 34:07
35 Tristan Springmeyer, Unattached, 34:10
36 Eric Bone, Club Northwest, 34:13
37 Robert Sowers, Unattached, 34:14
38 Neil Hansen, Discount Jogging Club, 34:16
39 Jeff Ho, Unattached, 34:22
40 James O'Connor, Discount Jogging Club, 34:25
41 John Bursell, Unattached, 34:26
42 Scott Koch, Discount Jogging Club, 18 34:39
43 Bill Aronson, Team Red Lizards, 34:41
44 Mitch Leffler, Discount Jogging Club, 34:55
45 Joshua Bigler, Unattached, 34:56
46 David Milne, UBC/CAN, 35:43
47 Brian Pratt, Unattached, 35:55
48 Steve James, Unattached, 36:18
40 Howell Robinson, Club Northwest, 36:29
50 Chris Roewe, Unattached, 36:31
51 David Harding, Team Red Lizards, 36:33
52 Ruben Alanis, Unattached, 36:42
53 Ken Franklin, Unattached, 40:38
54 Bill Cusworth, Club Northwest, 41:23
55 Brian Brouillet, Club Northwest, 44:59
56 Douglas Sturm, Unattached, 48:57

Men's Team Scores
1 Team Red Lizards 27= 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 14, 15
2 Club Northwest 28=1, 2, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13
3 Discount Jogging Club 82=12, 16, 17, 18, 19