Western, Seattle Pacific, Saint Martin's and Central open cross country season at Green River Invite...
All four of the state's Division II schools gather Saturday morning for their first meet of the season at the Green River Gator Invitational at Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood, just south of Tacoma.
This will have all the feeling of a conference championship preview, as Simon Fraser makes the trip from British Columbia to join Western Washington, Seattle Pacific, Central Washington and Saint Martin's.
The Green River Invitational is the first of three meets during the regular season where all four Washington schools will see each other before Western Washington hosts the GNAC championships in Bellingham on October 26th.
Action gets underway at Fort Steilacoom with the women's 4k at 11 am, and the men's 6k 45 minutes later.
From an individual perspective, the ones to watch are (clockwise from top left/Paul Merca photo graphic) Seattle Pacific's Annika Esvelt, Western Washington's Ashley Reeck and Kevin McDermott, along with Central Washington's Johan Correa.
Esvelt was an All-American in both the 5000 and 10000 on the track last spring, while Reeck and Correa earned All-America honors in cross country. McDermott enters the season as the defending GNAC cross country champion, as well as being the second man in conference history to win the indoor distance triple (mile/3000/5000) in a single championship meet back in February.
Both Western Washington squads are ranked nationally in the USTFCCCA pre-season D2 poll, with the women ranked number 9 and the men number 12.
"Our big goal is to get the team to Sacramento in November. Annika (Esvelt) looks as fit now as she was during outdoors, which is a pretty good sign."
In our preview of Central Washington, one significant runner added to the roster after the piece was published is Ramon Rodriguez, a junior from Spain. Rodriguez comes to Central with track PBs of 3:47.51 for 1500, and a road 10k best of 31:31.
COMPOSITE WASHINGTON DIVISION I/DIVISION II CROSS COUNTRY SCHEDULE AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD...
Below is the composite cross country schedule of all nine Washington NCAA Division I and II teams for the 2024 season.
As a disclaimer, schedules are always subject to change. Please visit the cross country team page of the school that you are interested in for the most complete and updated information.
Washington D1 D2 XC 2024 Schedule by paulmerca70601 on Scribd
NOTE: The sports information offices of Western Washington, Seattle Pacific, Saint Martin's and Central Washington contributed to this report.
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