Vikings sweep Puget Sound Invitational in season opener...
TACOMA--Western Washington, the nation's number 10 men's Division II squad, easily took care of business at the season opening Puget Sound Invitational at Fort Steilacoom Park, as the Vikings placed all five scoring runners in the top ten to win the team title, scoring 30 points.
However, the individual winner was a mild surprise over the 5k distance, as Central Washington's Johan Correa (Paul Merca photo), who was third last spring for the Wildcats at 800 meters at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference meet, took the win over Western's Samuel Lingwall, who transferred to the Bellingham school from Division I Portland State.
Both were credited with a time of 15:00, with Correa getting the win by a step over Lingwall at the line.
Micah Murphy of Northwest University was third in 15:01, followed by Ben Kerr of host Puget Sound in 15:06, with Western's Ryan Clough rounding the top 5 in 15:06.
Jalen Javurek of the Vikings was sixth in 15:15, with Jason Blinn ninth in 15:28, and Will Henry rounding out Western's scorers in tenth at 15:32.
In his debut as head coach at Central Washington, Jonathan Hill placed another runner in the top ten for the Wildcats, as Steiner Christensen was eighth in 15:18.
Brennan LeBlanc was Seattle Pacific's top runner in eleventh, finishing in 15:32.
Behind the Vikings were Northwest University with 81, Puget Sound at 94, Central Washington with 102, and Seattle Pacific at 109.
In the women's 5k race, Western Washington took the top fifteen places in the race, led by winner Ashley Reeck (Paul Merca photo) in 17:41.
Sophie Wright was second in 18:07, followed by Mia Crocker in 18:14. Emma Smith was fourth in 18:25, and Meaera Nystrom rounded out the Viking five in fifth at 18:27.
Anna Prussian was Seattle Pacific's top runner in 16th at 19:29, while Lauren Thompson led the way for Central Washington in 21st in 20:11.
UPDATE: The team scores were posted. Western won the women's team title with a perfect 15. Seattle Pacific finished second with 59, and Central Washington third with 79 points.
WOODRUFF NINTH IN XIAMEN DIAMOND LEAGUE MEET...
In Xiaman, China, Washington alum Gianna Woodruff finished ninth in the women's 400 hurdles at the Wanda Diamond League stop in Xiamen, China Saturday night.
Woodruff, currently in fifth place in the Diamond League women's 400 hurdles standings with 16 points, started strong out of lane 9, but faded down the stretch to finish in 55.45, as Rushell Clayton of Jamaica won in 53.56.
The Wanda Diamond League tour moves on to the final regular season meet at the Van Damme Memorial in Brussels, Belgium on Thursday September 7th, before the top point scorers head to Eugene for the Diamond League finals contested at the Nike Prefontaine Classic on September 16-17th.
NOTE: The sports information offices of Western Washington, Central Washington, Seattle Pacific, along with the Wanda Diamond League contributed to this report.
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