Vikings sweep last-minute triangular with Central & Saint Martin's...
LACEY—Due to the unhealthy air quality levels in Ellensburg because of the wildfires around the Pacific Northwest, Central Washington’s Apple Ridge Invitational was cancelled on Thursday, and in its place, a hastily assembled meet featuring Central, Western and last minute host Saint Martin’s on its campus course.
In the opening women’s 4k, reigning GNAC 10000 meter champion Alexa Shindruck (left/photo by Paul Merca) took the victory, running 14:40, to finish 16 seconds up on Western Washington senior Lillianna Stelling.
The Vikings essentially ran this race as a controlled tempo run, with the next six runners behind Stelling finishing within six seconds.
Larissa Kolasinski of Saint Martin’s, who led the race early, was twelfth in 15:28.
In the men’s 6k race, Western’s Ian Fay, a freshman from Cedarcrest HS competing unattached, was the winner in 19:36.
Western senior Andrew Wise was the first scoring runner across the line, finishing third in 19:53.
Central Washington’s first runner was Ron Leaf in seventh at 20:10, while Saint Martin’s was led by Josh Hunt in 15th place in 20:24.
Western, which enters the season ranked in the West Region top ten on both the men’s and women’s sides, easily won both meets, scoring 20 to Central’s 46 and Saint Martin’s in the women’s competition, and 23 points in the men’s race, with Central second at 34 and Saint Martin’s with 80.
Central and Western Washington will compete at next week’s Sundodger Invitational at Lincoln Park in West Seattle, hosted by the University of Washington, while Saint Martin’s returns to action in two weeks at their own invitational.
Complete results are posted below.
In a related note, Saint Martin's recently announced the addition of Atanas Atanassov as an assistant track and cross country coach.
Atanassov was a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Washington for the last four years, and served as the primary coach for 2016 US Olympic decathlete Jeremy Taiwo.
Atanassov will work with the sprinters and field event specialists at Saint Martin's, while continuing to work with Taiwo, who was injured and did not compete in the 2016 season.
NOTE: The sports information offices of Saint Martin’s, Western and Central Washington contributed to this report.
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