Vikings look to make it four in a row at GNAC Championships Saturday...
Championship Saturday arrives for the four Washington Division II schools as they head to Billings, Montana to compete in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships at Amend Park, hosted by Montana State University-Billings.
The meet kicks off with the women's 6K race at 9:00 a.m. PST, followed by the men's 8K race at 10:00 a.m. PST.
Western Washington at number 9, Northwest Nazarene at number 19, and Alaska Anchorage at number 20, are the three teams from the conference that are nationally ranked in the latest USTFCCCA Division II coaches poll. On the women's side, only the Vikings at number 21 and Alaska Anchorage at number 28 are ranked nationally.
Western is looking to win its fourth straight men's and women's team titles.
Alaska Anchorage has the GNAC record of seven straight men's championships from 2010-16. Alaska Anchorage also is the last team to win four straight women's titles from 2015-19, after winning five straight from 2009-13.
Should the Western women win Saturday, they would join Seattle Pacific and Alaska Anchorage as the only teams in conference history to win four straight titles.
WOMEN'S PREVIEW
Western Washington is the clear favorite, despite not having a true frontrunner that could challenge Seattle Pacific's Maya Ewing (Paul Merca photo) and Simon Fraser's Rachael Watkins for the individual title.
That said, the Vikings will look to Washington State transfer Sabrina Colbert and Jill Philbin to lead the way. The Vikings ran a 1-5 split of 33 seconds at the Lewis Crossover. Colbert ran 22:08 for 6k, while Philbin ran 22:14, as they finished 26th and 31st.
The Vikings were sixth at Lewis, while Alaska Anchorage was ninth.
Central Washington is looking for Madeline Harrison and GNAC 10000 meter runner-up Payton Conover to be the team's frontrunners.
Seattle Pacific's Maya Ewing, who is one of the favorites for the individual title, does not have the depth behind her for the Falcons to legitimately challenge for a top-half finish.
Saint Martin's has come up with a find in freshman Kekaihulali Halpern, who has finished first for the Saints in every meet this season, and inside the top seven in three of four meets this season. The Saints may have a difficult time getting out of the conference basement.
MEN'S PREVIEW
Sten Brakstad (WWU Athletics photo) and Jonah Billings have been the team leaders for the Vikings this season. Brakstad was the Vikings' number one runner at their last two meets, the Bill Roe Invitational where he was second, and the Lewis Crossover in Illinois, where he was tenth overall, running 24:21 for 8k.
At the GNAC championships, where Northwest Nazarene's Grady Mylander is on paper the favorite to win the conference title, the Vikings must have Brakstad and Billings run close to Mylander, and ahead of NNU's Brody Kemble and Ian Stockett.
Kemble was 37th at the Lewis Crossover, and Stockett 39th.
Western ran a 1-5 split of 50 seconds at the Lewis Crossover, so if they can replicate that performance AND if their two frontrunners can stay close to Mylander and ahead of Kemble and Stockett, they should repeat as conference champs.
Central Washington, which finished fifth at the conference championships last year in Bellingham, will count on Luke Hurd to lead the way, after losing All American Johan Correa to graduation, and Ramon Rodriguez, who transferred to Tiffin.
It quite honestly will be a battle between Seattle Pacific and Saint Martin's to stay out of the basement of the GNAC. Isaac Venable is SPU's top runner, while Eli Dale leads the way for Saint Martin's.
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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