Vikings and Saints harrier squads head to Illinois for national showdown at Lewis Crossover...

With two weeks to go before the Great Northwest Athletic Conference cross country championships in Anchorage, Alaska, all four Washington schools are in action as individual athletes make their cases to compete at the conference meet, and coaches fine tune their teams for optimal performances come championship time.

Both Western Washington and Saint Martin's head east to Romeoville, Illinois for the Lewis Crossover, hosted by Lewis University.

The Vikings and the Saints will see eight nationally ranked men's teams, and ten women's squads in the competition.

The women’s 6k race, which starts at 9:45 am CT (7:45 am Pacific), features ten of those ranked teams, including four top-10 squads: Number 1 Grand Valley State, number. 3 Colo. School of Mines, number 4 Winona State and ninth-ranked Colorado Christian, in addition to the number 27 Vikings, and the Saints, who are ranked number 7 in the West Region.

Saint Martin's will be led by Cassidy Walchak-Sloan (photo courtesy WWU Athletics), who finished seventh in the women's race at the Bill Roe Classic in Bellingham two weeks ago.

The men's 8k has number one Colorado School of Mines, number five Colorado Christian, and number 10 Saginaw Valley State, who is one spot ahead of the Vikings.

WWU is coming off a successful showing at the Bill Roe Classic on September 23 at Lake Padden Park, with the Viking men winning their second race in as many starts this season and the women placing second. Saint Martin's was eighth in the men's race, and third in the women's race.

Both races will be live streamed for free using this link starting at 7:30 am Pacific time.

Western's preview release is available here.

Those athletes from Western Washington who don't make the trip to Illinois will run at the Emerald City Open at Lower Woodland Park in Seattle, hosted by Club Northwest.

Both Central Washington and Seattle Pacific will run their squads at that meet as well.

The men's 8k starts at 10:30, with the women's 6k at 11:15 am.

The link to the meet's home page is available here.

NOTE: The sports information office of Western Washington University and Club Northwest contributed to this report.

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