All four Washington teams in action at NCAA D2 Pre-Nats at Chambers Creek...

Action from the Curtis Invitational on October 1st
with runners from Western Washington and Saint
Martin's at Chambers Creek (Paul Merca photo)

When is a cross country meet with all ten Great Northwest Athletic Conference squads running in the same venue at the same time NOT the conference championship meet?

How about this Saturday morning at Chambers Creek Regional Park, when Seattle Pacific hosts the NCAA D2 Pre-Nationals meet as a test run for the NCAA Division II cross country championships on the same course on December 2nd.

“We’re really excited. This is our first real opportunity to see what this course can be and to see what our staff can do for these teams,” Seattle Pacific associate head coach Chris Reed said. “It is particularly challenging when the course is an hour from campus and you basically have to bring everything there, but we are ready.”

All ten GNAC teams will compete at Pre-Nationals as part of a 30-team field that will feature many of the top teams in Division II. Twenty-seven teams will participate in the men’s race, including eight of the West Region’s top 10 teams and six teams ranked in the USTFCCCA Division II Coaches Poll, led by No. 1 ranked Colorado Mines.

Other men's teams with national recognition are Chico State (No. 5), Western Colorado (No. 10), Western Washington (No. 20), Simon Fraser (No. 22) and Cal Poly Pomona (No. 25).

The women’s field of 30 teams also features eight of the top 10 West Region teams and five Division II ranked teams. Colorado Mines, which is ranked No. 3 in the coaches poll, leads the field.

Joining Mines on the women's side with national rankings are Western Colorado (No. 11), Chico State (No. 12), Biola (No. 20) and Western Washington (No. 29).

With all 10 conference programs entered in the meet, Pre-Nationals will also serve as a de-facto preview of the GNAC Cross Country Championships, which take place on Saturday, Nov. 5 at Western Oregon’s Ash Creek Preserve. The meet is the last one for the conference’s programs prior to the GNAC Championships.

For the nationally ranked Western Washington squads, along with Saint Martin's, this will be the second meet this season that they'll run at Chambers Creek, having raced at the John Payne/Curtis Invitational on October 1st. Saint Martin's won the women's team title, while Western easily won the men's crown.

The meet gets underway at 10 am with the men's 8k open race, consisting of non-Division II schools, club teams, unattached runners, and extra runners from the D2 teams. Following that race is the men's invitational 8k race at 10:40 am.

The women's open 6k starts at 11:20, and racing concludes with the women's invitational 6k at noon.

There is no live streaming of the meet; however live results are available here.

Host Seattle Pacific's release is available here, while the GNAC preview of the meet is available here. The USTFCCCA's preview is available here.

NOTE: The Great Northwest Athletic Conference and the sports information office of Seattle Pacific contributed to this report.

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