Viking men fifth at NCAA West Regionals in Monmouth...

MONMOUTH, Oregon--Mac Franks (Ron Franks/GNAC photo) and Jeret Gillingham led the way for Western Washington on a blustery Saturday morning at the NCAA West Regional cross country championship at Ash Creek Preserve on the campus of Western Oregon University.

Franks placed 11th in a time of 31:12 over 10,000 meters, allowing the Vikings to finish three points ahead of sixth-place Cal State San Marcos. Western Washington was just behind Azusa Pacific, which was fourth with 139 points. Freshman Jeret Gillingham joined Franks in earning All-West Region honors, placing 19th in a time of 31:29. 

Alec Ritter finished 41st in 32:01, followed by Jalen Javurek in 42nd at 32:02. Kaleb Korta in 45th rounded out Western's five scoring runners, in a time of 32:05 to give the Vikings a final score of 147 points, just nine points out of third place and an automatic qualifying spot to the nationals.

Chico State collected its fifth consecutive men’s regional title, placing all five scoring runners in the top 15 with just a 27-second gap for a score of 47 points. Fresno Pacific was second with 109 points and Cal Poly Pomona placed third with 138 points with all three teams earning automatic berths to the NCAA Division II Championships on Saturday, November 20 in St. Leo, Florida.

Central Washington in 18th (439) and Saint Martin's in 19th (500) were the only other Washington men's teams to have complete squads.

Patrick Kiprop of Fresno Pacific led from gun to tape to take the individual title in 30:13.

Western Washington must wait until Monday to find out if it will advance to the national championships as one of the ten at-large selections.

In the women's 6k race, Western Washington finished seventh with 180 points, as GNAC champ Simon Fraser took the West regional title with 75 points. Stanislaus State, the CCAA champion, was second in 91 points and Chico State placed third with 110 points.

The Vikings were led by senior Brittany Aquino, who finished 37th in 22:30.

The top Washington collegiate finisher was Seattle Pacific's Annika Esvelt, who was 22nd in 22:08.

Saint Martin’s in 19th (512), and Central Washington in 20th (518) were the only other Washington schools to have complete teams in the regional championships.

Stanislaus State’s Keala Dishion, the CCAA champion, won the individual title with a time of 21:15.

The link to complete results is available here.

NOTE: The Great Northwest Athletic Conference contributed to this report.

paulmerca.blogspot.com may receive a commission for any purchases made from links clicked. Please support this site and our sponsors by clicking on the links.