Falcons sweep CWU Winter Invitational cross country meet...

ELLENSBURG--When all was lost on any semblance of a cross country season in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, there was actually a meet Saturday.

Central Washington hosted Seattle Pacific and a small group of athletes from Alaska Fairbanks in the CWU Winter Invitational at Tomlinson Stadium and the surrounding athletic fields on their campus.

In the opening men's 8k race, the Falcons grabbed six of the top ten spots for a 19-37 victory, led by sophomore Jared Putney, who ran 26:07.

Freshman Austin Weese finished second in 26:51, followed by senior Elius Graff in 27:07.

Freshman Shawn Clough was the first Wildcat across the line in fourth in 27:11, followed by teammate Ty Savely in 27:17.

The Falcons put their final two scorers across the line, as Brayden Schultz (27:59) and Colin Boutin (27:59) crossed together in sixth and seventh.

Donovan Barnhart (8th, 28:15), Ethan Lapic (9th, 28:31), and Espen Diamond (11th, 29:19) rounded out Central's scorers.

In the women's 6k, 2019 cross country All-American Dania Holmberg (photo courtesy SPU Athletics) cruised to victory in 22:47, with freshman teammate Belle Brandenfels second in 23:39 to lead the Falcons to a 18-40 win.

Molly Mattson was the first Wildcat across the line, taking third in 23:52, followed by a trio of Falcons in Kelsey Washenberger (4, 24:16), Elizabeth Thompson (5, 24:19), and Ellie Rising (6, 24:50) to round out their scorers.

Madison Child (7, 25:05), Katelynn Strate (9, 25:54), Zoie Mastin (10, 26:41), and Taller Cochran (11, 28:17) rounded out Central's scorers.

Both races were contested in clear but cold 24-degree temperatures.

"We're just so thankful that we got to compete and have a cross country race, in general, this school year," CWU coach Kevin Adkission said. "We did go full distance, 6K & 8K and that's tough. Typically, we have a shorter distance to open up the season as we work towards being able to handle that full distance."

Complete results of the CWU Winter Invitational are available here.

GRUVER AND CUNLIFFE SLATED TO POLE VAULT IN FINAL ATL MEET SUNDAY...

In Fayetteville, Arkansas, University of Washington alum Olivia Gruver and West Seattle HS grad Chloe Cunliffe compete in the final meet of the four-meet American Track League series Sunday at Randal Tyson Track Complex on the campus of the University of Arkansas.

With hometown favorite and 2016 Olympic silver medalist Sandi Morris out of Sunday's meet due to travel issues after last week's New Balance Indoor Grand Prix meet in Staten Island, Gruver enters the meet as the top seed.

As it has for the previous three meets in the series, ESPN will offer live coverage of the meet beginning at 2:00 pm, Pacific.

The start list for the final ATL meet is available here.

NOTE:  The sports information offices of Seattle Pacific University, Central Washington University & the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, and the American Track League contributed to this report.

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