Wildcats head to Tacoma for Saturday's Pacific Lutheran University Invitational...
It's a light weekend of cross country, as Central Washington is the only Washington Division I and II school in action, as the Wildcats travel to Tacoma to compete at the Pacific Lutheran University Invitational on the PLU Meadows campus course Saturday.
The women's 6k begins at 11:10 am, while the men's 8k gets underway at 11:45 am.
The start and finish lines are located behind left-center field on the outside perimeter of the baseball diamond, next to the Columbia Center. It loops around grass and dirt trails on what used to be a golf course. It has a few gentle hills, but is mostly flat. Each loop is 2,000 meters, so the men will run it four times, and the women will go three.
Central Washington All-American Johan Correa (Paul Merca photo) returns to defend his title in the men's 8k race.
In the 2023 race, he covered 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).
Thirteen teams are expected to run, primarily Division III schools George Fox University, Lewis & Clark College, Pacific University, University of Puget Sound, and Whitman College, along with host PLU.
According to Central Washington coach Jonathan Hill, "Last year (our men's team) finished sixth in this meet. This group is extremely motivated and hungry to race. We're hoping for a tighter one through three and see how our number four and five materialize over the next few weeks."
"Our women will face a field that will give them a challenge but will also give us an opportunity to compete. This will be many of our women's first collegiate 6k, so our expectations for them is to keep gaining experience, trying new strategies, and believing in themselves and the process."
At last week's Green River Gator Invitational in Steilacoom, Correa was the top D2 runner in the field, finishing sixth in sixth in 17:25 over 6k. Payton Conover was Central's top finisher in the women's 4k, running 14:33 in 40th place.
NOTE: The sports information office of Central Washington University and Pacific Lutheran University contributed to this report.
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