DenAdel & Guenther win individual titles at Central Washington Invitational...

ELLENSBURG--After coming off a hard pre-season training camp, Western Washington coach Pee Wee Halsell opted to give some of his younger runners the opportunity to compete in Friday's Central Washington Invitational season opener at Ellensburg Rotary Park.

In the men's 6k race, Pacific Lutheran's Alan DenAdel (left/photo courtesy Pacific Lutheran University) crossed the line first in 20:07, 21 seconds up on WWU's Zachary Bursell, with PLU's Kolter Grigsby third in 21:30.

Despite their strong performance, the Lutes didn't show enough depth to get close to Western Washington, which won with 32 points, and host Central Washington, which had 48. The Lutes were third with 73, followed by Green River CC with 76 and Highline CC with 134.

Two Viking freshmen finished one-two in the four-kilometer women's run. Taylor Guenther won in 15:33, five seconds faster than teammate Maddie Jalbert.

Central took top honors with 32 points in the four-team competition. WWU was second with 40, PLU third with 54, and Green River CC fourth with 107.

Complete results of the Central Washington Invitational are available here.

NOTE: The sports information departments at Western Washington University and Pacific Lutheran University contributed to this report.