Both Western Washington cross country teams roll to four-peats at GNAC championships...
BILLINGS, Montana--A three-peat was good. A four-peat is even better.
Western Washington's women's and men's squads both rolled to their fourth straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference cross country championship on an overcast day at Amend Park Saturday morning.
This marked the fourth consecutive year the Vikings have swept the team titles at the GNAC championships, extending a remarkable run by the program that has a current string of 16 consecutive team titles across men's and women's cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field dating back to the 2023 outdoor championships.
"We graduated so many kids last year and all of them did so much for this program," WWU head coach Ben Stensland said. "To see them move on and have a ton of folks who have been here for a while and putting in so much work and then stepping up in a big way has been special. Their demeanor pre-race, during the race – you could see how cool and calm and collected they were."
The Viking men and women won with identical low scores of 37 points.
The women's team race saw Seattle Pacific punch above its weight, after not showing much in their early season competitions, running to an almost unexpected second place showing with 92 points, placing four runners in the top 25.
The Falcons were led by winner Maya Ewing (SPU Athletics photo), who ran to a 22-second victory, covering the 6k course in 21:05.
Alaska Anchorage was third with 105 points, while Central Washington was fifth with 126, and Saint Martin's tenth with 258.
In the men's 8k, Alaska Anchorage was second with 58 points, led by winner John Peckham, rho ran 24:05, thirteen seconds ahead of runner up Sten Brakstad of Western Washington.
The Vikings put four runners inside the top ten to help clinch their fourth straight conference title.
Northwest Nazarene, who was expected to give Western a strong challenge for the conference title, finished third with 65 points.
Seattle Pacific finished sixth with 151 points, well ahead of Central Washington's 185, while Saint Martin's was ninth with 244 points.
WOMEN'S RECAP
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| Western Washington women's team (GNAC photo) |
Seattle Pacific's Ewing and co-favorite Rachael Watkins of Simon Fraser ran together through the first 2k. Ewing grabbed the lead before the halfway mark, and never relinquished it, cruising to a 22 second win in 21:05, just ahead of Western Washington's Alexis Parker, who ran 21:27.
Parker's second place finish marked the fourth straight race for the Vikings where they've had a different team leader.
Behind Parker, Ella Edens was fifth in 21:36, followed by Danielle McLain in seventh in 21:41. Laura Halsell was eleventh in 21:47, and Emmy Kroontje closed out their scorers in twelfth in the same time.
The Vikings ran an outstanding 1-5 split of 20 seconds.
Seattle Pacific's Anna Prussian was ninth in 21:42, one second ahead of Saint Martin's freshman Kekaihulali Halpern, who was tenth.
Alexa Gossett was 21st for the Falcons in 21:58, followed by Matise Mulch in 25th in 22:07, while Katelyn Flolo was fifth for SPU in 22:47. The Falcons ran a 1-5 split of 1:42.
Central Washington were led by Payton Conover and Madeline Harrison, who finished 13th and 14th in 21:48 and 21:49.
After the race, Ewing, who became the first GNAC individual champion for Seattle Pacific since Jessica Pixler in 2009, told reporters, "I was planning on staying with the lead pack. Once we hit the second lap, I was going to try to make a move. I made the move a little earlier than I expected, but I just kept going, hoping that no one would pass me."
SPU's women's team's finish was the best team finish since taking third in 2019. The last time the Falcons were second was in 2009.
MEN'S RECAP
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| Western Washington men's team (GNAC photo) |
Sten Brakstad's runner-up finish in 24:18 led the way for Western Washington, 13 seconds behind winner John Peckham of Alaska Anchorage's 24:05.
Jonah Billings finished fourth in 24:27, followed by Jared Alderfer in ninth in 24:40, and George Fernanzez in tenth in 24:47. Logan Werner closed out Western's scorers in twelfth in 24:49, giving the Vikings a 31-second 1-5 split.
"It was a lot of fun to move with the team and have that pack through the first half of the race," Brakstad said. "At the halfway point, the move got made, it was time to go and cue off of my teammates and see everyone around me and move up. It makes all the difference to have someone like Jonah out there. We do all of our workouts together and we just know how to support each other out there."
"I tell the kids that in cross country, it's important to have more than just five. You have to have a full team of seven or 10, and that's what this team brings to the table," WWU assistant coach / distance coach T.J. Garlatz. For us to put up 37 points in a tough conference like the GNAC, that's a testament to the work that all of the team has put in."
Seattle Pacific placed two runners inside the top 30, led by Avery Erickson in 14th in 24:53. Following Erickson was Isaac Venable in 26th in 25:22, as the Falcons had their highest team finish since a fifth place effort in 2019.
Luke Hurd led the way for Central Washington with his 25th place finish in 25:16.
Saint Martin's was led by Eli Dale, who was 41st in 25:53.
Next up for all four Washington schools is the NCAA West Regionals on Saturday November 8th in Monmouth, Oregon on the campus of Western Oregon University.
NOTE: The Great Northwest Athletic Conference and the sports information offices of Western Washington, Central Washington, Seattle Pacific and Saint Martin's contributed to this report.
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