Central's Johan Correa, and Western Washington women advance to NCAA D2 nationals...
Correa, whose resume at the collegiate level before the cross country season included two third place finishes at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference indoor and outdoor championships at 800 meters, won his first four meets this season, before finishing second to Western Washington's Kevin McDermott at the GNAC meet two weeks ago in Anchorage.
He started in a large group of nearly 30 runners through the first split of the Ash Creek Preserve course, then worked his way to 17th at the 4k mark in 12:31, just a second behind the lead group, which included Western Washington's Andrew Oslin and McDermott.
By the time the lead group got to 6k, he moved up 11 positions, before moving into third with 2k to go in the 10k race, a distance he had never raced in his college career.
Correa got to the line first in a time of 30:43, a second ahead of Juan Diego Castro from Azusa Pacific, with Western's Oslin third in 30:50.
The Vikings, who came into the NCAA West Regionals ranked number 13 in the country, finished fourth with 79 points, with number 8 Chico State winning with 47 points, number 10 Azusa Pacific second with 61 points, and number 17 Cal Poly Pomona third with 77 points, two less than Western Washington.
Behind Oslin, Ryan Clough was ninth overall in 30:57, with GNAC champ McDermott fading to 15th in 31:04. Jeret Gillingham was 25th in 31:20, with Jalen Javurek 27th in 31:31. The Vikings had a 1-5 split of 41 seconds.
Correa's win led Central Washington to a 14th place finish with 380 points, while Saint Martin's was 19th with 473 points, led by Isaac Cortes, who was 54th in 32:14. Seattle Pacific was 21st with 515 points, led by Brennan LeBlanc in 61st in 32:24.
CWU distance coach Matt Layten said afterwards that Correa is a "very competitive kid who is now enjoying the process of training."
"He closed well over the latter stages of the race, and executed the race plan, considering that this was his first ever race over 10k".
WOMEN'S RECAP
In the opening women's 6k, Western Washington's Ashley Reeck's fifth place finish helped lead the defending GNAC champions to the team title, as the number 12 Vikings scored 75 points to Biola's 86 points, with Chico State getting third on a tiebreaker over Concordia University Irvine, as both scored 132 points.
The Vikings placed all five scorers inside the top 30, led by Reeck's fifth place finish in 20:55 for the 6k course.
Ila Davis was the next runner across the line in 11th at 21:20, followed by Meaera Nostrum in 14th at 21:26.
Rounding out the Viking scorers were Sophie Wright in 24th at 21:44, and Emma Smith in 26th at 21:45, giving Western a 1-5 split of 50 seconds.
Saint Martin's finished seventh with 220 points, led by Cassidy Walchak-Sloan's seventh place finish in 21:01.
Seattle Pacific was 14th with 365 points with Annika Esvelt leading the way in 20th in 21:36, after running with the lead group through the early part of the race.
Central Washington was 23rd in the 24-team field, with Hannah Mikkelsen their top finisher in 132nd in 24:26.
Kendall Kramer of Alaska Fairbanks was the individual winner in 20:30.
The Western Washington men must wait until Monday to find out if they will get one of the eight at-large entries into the NCAA championships on November 19th in Joplin, Missouri, as does Saint Martin's Cassidy Walchak-Sloan as an at-large individual entry.
Complete results of the NCAA Division II West Regional cross country championships are available here.
NOTE: The USTFCCCA and the sports information office of Western Washington, Saint Martin's, Central Washington, Seattle Pacific and 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. You can also support the site by clicking the yellow "Buy Me A Coffee" link below.
Comments