NW Briefs | SPU legend Doris Heritage announces retirement

Doris Heritage, longtime Seattle Pacific cross-country coach and a pioneer of the sport, has announced her retirement at the end of the academic year.

Heritage, 65, concluded her 30th season as head cross-country coach in the fall, guiding the Falcons women to second at the NCAA Division II Championships, the best in school history.

Heritage also served as SPU head track coach for six seasons in the 1980s as well as a track assistant.

"The joy of running has meant so much to me over the years," Heritage said in a statement from the school. "It has been a pleasure to get to share this joy with the student-athletes at Seattle Pacific and make a meaningful impact in their lives."

Heritage, the world's premier women's distance runner during the 1960s, competed for the Falcon Track Club, forerunner to today's women's varsity. Then known as Doris Brown, she set two American records before graduating from SPU in 1964 and eventually owned every national and world record from 440 yards to 3,000 meters. She made the U.S. Olympic team in 1968 and 1972, and was fifth in the 800 at Mexico City.

Heritage won five consecutive world cross-country championships, 14 national titles, and a U.S. Masters title.

"Doris Heritage has had an extraordinary career as both an athlete and a coach," Seattle Pacific President Philip Eaton said. "We celebrate both her outstanding athletic achievements and her remarkable loyalty to Seattle Pacific."

In 1999, Heritage became just the second female inducted to the U.S. Track Coaches Hall of Fame, and in 1990 was inducted into the U.S. Track & Field Hall of Fame.

Erika Daligcon, an assistant cross-country coach for the past six years, has been named Heritage's successor.

College basketball

Seattle Pacific maintained its No. 2 ranking in this week's USA Today ESPN WBCA Top 25 basketball poll.

The Falcons women (22-0) are the only West Region team ranked in the Top 10. Top-ranked Delta State (Miss.) is also 22-0.

• Seattle University's Chelsie Morrison, a junior from Portland, is the GNAC Player of the Week after scoring 35 points last Saturday at Montana State.

• Central Washington University guard Johnny Spevak, a junior from Puyallup High School, has been named the GNAC Player of the Week for men's basketball.

Note

• Wenatchee native Tyler Farrar grabbed the overall lead by one second Tuesday in the Amgen Tour of California cycling race, held in the rain around Sacramento.

Compiled from wire and sports-information reports.