WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Laura Matsen, a Whitman College senior, today completed her storybook rise to the top of the Northwest Conference, winning the women's 6,000-meter title in her fastest time of the season. Running at Lincoln Park in Forest Grove, Ore., Matsen took the lead midway through the second mile and was never headed, finishing in an eye-popping 21:36.78.
Matsen's time, a new meet and course record, was more than 90 seconds faster than the time she posted on the same course in a late-September race, when she placed second. "Laura looked very strong today," Whitman assistant cross country coach Neal Christopherson said. "Once she took the lead, she never looked back."
In ceremonies following the meet, Matsen was recognized as the NWC's female Athlete of the Year.
Matsen, a senior running her first season of collegiate cross country, beat rival Leslie Nelson, a Whitworth senior, by just under three seconds. Nelson also finished second in last year's conference championship meet, losing to Willamette's Kari Holbert by one second. Holbert, now a junior, finished about five seconds behind Matsen in Saturday's race.
Matsen is Whitman's first women's cross country champion in eight years. Kathleen Gibson won the title as a senior in 1995. Jessica Bissonnette, one of Gibson's senior teammates and a two-time defending champion that fall, was unable to run in the conference meet due to injury.
A three-sport athlete who earned 12 varsity letters at Seattle's Lakeside School, Matsen did not run cross country in her first three years at Whitman. She delved instead into outdoor sports, learning to rock climb and mountaineer. She also began competing in triathlon events, winning a national title in her age and weight group. Last spring, she joined Whitman's club cycling team.
After "rediscovering" her love for competitive running last summer, Matsen quickly established herself this fall as one of the top runners in the conference. In addition to placing second in her first race at Lincoln Park, she won two other events and placed third once.
Matsen's running last summer served as her balance for some intensive studies. Not only was she immersed in preparations for medical school exams, she was doing research at the University of Washington Medical School for her honors thesis, which looks at a new method of treating cases of shoulder instability.
Matsen also did a job shadow last summer with Dr. John O'Kane, an orthopedist at the UW Sports Clinic. It was Dr. O'Kane who treated a stress fracture that developed in Matsen's left leg as her senior cross country season was ending at Lakeside.
"I just love learning how the body works," she says. "My favorite class this fall is physiology. I can relate what I learn in class to my running. I definitely believe in the interconnectedness of all things."
A biology major at Whitman, Matsen has applied to the UW Medical School for admission next fall. Her father, Frederick, is a Seattle-area orthopedic physician who specializes in sports medicine. Her sister, Susanna, seven years her senior, is in surgical residency at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Her sister, after winning six state titles in cross country and track at Lakeside, was a three-time All-American at the University of North Carolina.
Matsen plans to compete again next spring with Whitman's club cycling team. After graduating in May, she plans to get her first real taste of the medical profession, traveling in to Ecuador in July and August with a volunteer medical team that provides care to schoolchildren.
"I look forward to a life in medicine as a way of sharing my love for physical activity, and for helping others stay healthy," Matsen says. "I see my life as one in which all the parts are connected."