SMU's Porter, WWU's Derline, along with Falcon women & Viking men earn podium spots at GNAC champs...

BELLINGHAM—Saint Martin’s Shannon Porter (left/photo by Paul Merca) and Western Washington’s Isaac Derline, along with the Seattle Pacific women’s team and the the Western Washington men’s squad each earned podium finishes at Saturday’s Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship meet at East Lake Padden Park.

In the women’s 6k race, Porter challenged for the lead, but in the end, Alaska Anchorage’s Caroline Kurgat, the runner-up at last year’s meet, pulled away to take the individual crown in a time of 21:17, seven seconds up on Porter.

Seattle Pacific’s Mary Charleson dropped 25 seconds from her time over this same course two weeks ago to take fourth in 21:41, while Falcon teammate Sarah Macdonald followed closely in sixth in 22:01.

Yadira Lopez of Saint Martin’s finished eighth in 22:12 to round out the Washington athletes in the top ten.

Defending champ Alaska Anchorage took its second straight team title and seventh in eight years with a low score of 45 points, followed by Simon Fraser with 56, and Seattle Pacific third with 92.

Western Washington, which was nationally ranked earlier in the season, finished with 114 points for fourth, led by Lillianna Stelling’s 12th place finish in 22:30, followed by Saint Martin’s with 139.

Central Washington was sixth with 188 points, led by Stephanie Rexus in 28th place in 23:08.

In the men’s 8k race, Isaac Derline of Western Washington, the winner of the WWU Invite on this course two weeks ago, finished third in a time of 25:08, as the Alaska Anchorage duo of Edwin Kangogo (24:55), and Michel Ramirez (24:57) went 1-2 to lead the Seawolves to their seventh straight conference crown.

Derline’s teammate Matthew Lutz finished eighth in 25:37.

Behind Alaska Anchorage’s low score of 31 points, Simon Fraser was second with 60 points, and Western Washington third with 86.  

Central Washington was seventh with 184, led by Kaleb Javier’s 26th place finish in 26:20.  Saint Martin’s was tenth with 285 points, led by Jasper Heckman in 47th place in 26:51.  Seattle Pacific was 11th with 300 points, led by Ben Halladay in 57th in 27:07.

Next up is the NCAA West Regional championship meet in two weeks in Billings, Montana.

The GNAC recap of the women’s race (results included) is available here, while the men’s recap is available here (results included).

NOTE: The Great Northwest Athletic Conference, and the sports information offices of Western Washington, Seattle Pacific, Saint Martin’s and Central Washington contributed to this report.