Weekend wrapup: October 18th cross country highlights...

The Pre-Nationals cross country meet wasn't the only game in America for collegiate cross country runners, as Kelly Spady and Kenna Patrick of the University of Washington, and Josh Simpson of Whatcom CC earned victories Saturday at the Cascade Conference cross country preview meet at Lincoln Park.

Spady (#234/photo by Paul Merca) took the victory in the open men’s 6-kilometer race, defeating Washington State’s David Hickerson by six seconds, 18:13 to 18:19.

Washington’s Caleb Knox finished third in 18:29, followed by two UW runners competing unattached, freshman Rob Webster (18:33), and senior Austin Abbott (18:38).

In the women’s 5k race, Washington sophomore Kenna Patrick cruised to a five-second victory over Husky redshirt Mo Huber, winning in 17:17, to Huber’s 17:22. Washington’s Bailey Schutte (17:30) was third, followed by Husky redshirt Adrienne McGuirk (17:31), and Washington’s Brooke Anderson (17:32).

Seattle University’s Katie Hansen was sixth in 18:00. Ashlee Wall was the top Washington State finisher in 18:21.

Whatcom Community College’s Josh Simpson took the individual title in the men’s 8k race with a 25:31, defeating Hassan Khalif, competing for Club Cav, by roughly 40 meters (25:35). Seth Bridges of Northwest University finished third in 25:54, with Nick Cannata-Bowman (25:55) of Seattle University fourth, and Chris Grever of Concordia fifth in 25:59.

The men’s 8k race was marred by a freak accident on the course as Charles Cummings of Concordia, running in the top pack, was attacked by a loose dog with a little more than a mile remaining in the race.

“I’ve never seen anything like this during a race,” Concordia head coach Randy Dalzell said. “We will see how he is doing as the week progresses, but he will probably need take some time off.”

Cummings was immediately taken to the hospital and received medical attention for puncture wounds.

EWU Invitational recap...

The Eastern Washington University men’s and women’s cross country teams took first and fourth, respectively, at the sixth annual EWU Cross Country Invitational Saturday (Oct.18) in Cheney, Wash.

Paul Limpf and Alex Smyth finished 1-2 in the men’s race to help Eastern’s men’s team win the title in the four-team meet over Montana, Calgary and Gonzaga.

Amber Nickelson led the EWU women with a sixth-place finish. Eastern finished fourth, with Calgary winning the women’s title, followed by Montana and Gonzaga.

In the men’s 8,000-meter run, Limpf had a time of 24:54to win the individual title at the EWU Invitational for the first time. Teammate Alex Smyth was second Saturday with a time of 25:01.

Other Eagle men’s finishers included Kyle King (6th, 25:52), Graham Vaux (7th, 25:55), Cody Barton (20th, 26:42) and Cody Bradwell (36th, 27:51).

In the women’s 5,000-meter race, Nickelson finished sixth with a time of 19:00. She was followed by teammate Stephanie Dye, who finished 13th with a time of 19:59

Other EWU women finishers include Brittney Williams (15th, 20:08), Lauren Matthews (21st, 20:57, Kelly Downey (30th, 21:41), Amanda Weaver (36th, 22:10) and April Axtell (40th, 23:19).

Larua Volcheff was the top runner for the Gonzaga women, finishing 11th overall in 19:33 for the 5K course. Molly Funk was 14th in 20:05, Jenne Dilts was 18th in 20:32 and Corrina O'Brien was 19th in 20:35 as Gonzaga placed four runners in the top 20.

Matt Bejar turned in his second straight outstanding performance for the men, finishing 15th in 26:30for the 8K run. Colby Litzenberger was 24th in 26:53

The Bulldogs were without Brett Withers who is nursing a leg injury.

The Eagles will next compete in the Big Sky Conference Championships on Nov. 1 in Portland, Ore., with the women running at 8:30 a.m. and the men at 9:30 a.m. Gonzaga competes at the West Coast Conference Championship Nov. 1 at Crystal Springs Golf Course in Crystal Springs, Calif.

NOTE: The sports information offices of the University of Washington, Northwest University, Concordia College, Washington State University, Gonzaga University, and Eastern Washington University all contributed to this report.