THE WRAP: SPU's Ellie Rising wins women's 6k; Central men finish second at PLU Open...

It was a light weekend for cross country as only Seattle Pacific and Central Washington were in action at the Pacific Lutheran Open in Tacoma Saturday morning.

Spokane native Annika Esvelt (photo courtesy SPU Athletics) led virtually from gun to tape to win the women's 6k race, running 22:16 to win by 15 seconds over Kara Putnam of Pacific (Oregon).

The Falcons' Ellie Rising was third in 22:46, while teammate Kelsey Washenberger was twelfth in 23:29.

Kay Lester was Central Washington's first runner across in 17th in 24:09, followed by Madison Child in 22nd at 24:21, and Kelli Heim in 28th at 24:40.

While this season's version of the SPU women's team has some front runners, the depth of the nation's number 22 team in the current USTFCCCA national women's poll was exposed as their fourth and fifth runners finished in 69th and 70th.

Pacific won the women's meet with 40 points, followed by Lewis & Clark at 58 and host Pacific Lutheran in third at 107.

Seattle Pacific was fifth with 118, while Central Washington was sixth at 130.

In the men's 8k, Central Washington's Trevor Allen led the Wildcats to a second place team finish, as he ran 25:58 to finish tenth overall, as all five Wildcat scorers finished inside the top 20.

Seattle Pacific's Colin Boutin was their top finisher in 11th at 26:16.

Host PLU won the team title with 63 points, followed by Central Washington at 68, and Lewis & Clark was third with 70.

Seattle Pacific finished fifth with 128 points.

Riley Stewart of Pacific (Oregon) won the individual race in a time of 25:22.

Central Washington travels to Lacey, Washington for the Saint Martin's Invitational on Saturday, September 25th on the course that will be used for next month's GNAC championship race, while Seattle Pacific will have the weekend off before hosting the Chambers Creek College Open on October 2nd at Chambers Creek Regional Park in University Place, which will be the site of next year's NCAA Division II championships.

The results of the PLU Open are available here.

NOTE: The sports information offices of Central Washington and Seattle Pacific contributed to this report.

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