Central Washington's Johan Correa wins second straight cross country meet; Moon wins DL pole vault...
TACOMA--While it's early in the season, Johan Correa (Paul Merca photo) of Central Washington appears to be one of the surprises of the 2023 collegiate cross country season in the state of Washington.
Correa ran to his second straight win at the Pacific Lutheran University Invitational, covering the 8k course on the PLU campus fields in 24:24 to outlast Simon Fraser's Sebastian Brinkman (24:28), and Ephrem Mekkonen (24:59).
Simon Fraser won the men's team title with a score of 46 points, while Seattle Pacific was fifth with 160 and Central Washington sixth with 162.
Seattle Pacific was led by Brennan LeBlanc's 15th place finish in 25:48.
In the women's 6k, Annika Esvelt of Seattle Pacific, who won this meet two years ago, finished second, covering the course in 21:44, as Constance Nankivel of Trinity Western in Langley, BC won in 21:03.
Simon Fraser took the women's team title with 27 points, while Seattle Pacific was third with 101 and Central Washington was sixth with 170.
Lauren Thompson was Central Washington's top finisher in 29th place in 24:16.
All four Washington GNAC schools will race next Saturday at the Bill Roe Invitational hosted by Western Washington University at Lake Padden Park in Bellingham.
MOON WINS DIAMOND LEAGUE TITLE AT PRE...
In Eugene, former Pullman resident and two-time world champion Katie Moon won the women's pole vault at the Nike Prefontaine Classic, which also serves as the finals of the season-long Wanda Diamond League series.
Moon, who was tied with Slovakia's Tina Sutej at 15-9.25 (4.81m), won a jump-off with Sutej at 15-11.25 (4.86m) to break the tie.
In the men's 400 hurdles, Washington State alum CJ Allen, who was the Diamond League points leader going into Eugene with 33 over five races, finished ninth in 48.62, as USC alum Rai Benjamin, who was third at the world championships, upset Norway's world and Olympic champion Karsten Warholm, running a world leading 46.39 to Warholm's 46.53.
The final race of the day saw Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen threaten the 1999 world record in the mile set by Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj of 3:43.13, as he ran 3:43.73.
In the process, the top 12 finishers either set personal, season, or national records, including second place finisher Yared Nuguse, who set an American record of 3:43.97, and former Husky Sam Tanner, who ran a personal best 3:49.51.
The Nike Prefontaine Classic continues Sunday, as Washington alums Brian Fay and Gianna Woodruff are entered in the men's 3000, and women's 400 hurdles.
NOTE: The sports information offices of Central Washington, Seattle Pacific, and the Wanda Diamond League contributed to this report.
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