Both Viking squads qualify for nationals at NCAA West Regionals Saturday...
MONMOUTH, Oregon--On a clear but crisp day, both Western Washington cross country teams earned berths to the NCAA Division II championships, as the Viking women finished third, and the men placed second at the NCAA West Regional championships at Ash Creek Preserve on the campus of Western Oregon University Saturday morning.
This marks the eleventh time since joining the NCAA in 1998 that both the WWU men's and women's cross country teams have qualified for nationals.
Western's women will appear at the national championships in two weeks for the twelfth time in school history, while the men will make their fifteenth appearance at nationals.
WOMEN'S RECAP...
The opening women's 6k saw the 20th-ranked Vikings finish a comfortable third with 140 points, behind the 86 points of unranked Cal Poly Pomona, and ninth ranked Chico State, the easy team winners with 40 points.
Western, which won the regionals last year, was helped by a 1-5 split of 37 seconds, with Ella Edens (photo courtesy WWU Athletics) leading the way in 16th place in a time of 21:06, with Jill Philbin in 17th with the same time.
Alexis Parker was 23rd in 21:16, followed by Sabrina Colbert in 35th in 21:25, and Cecilia Villagomez Edvalson was the final scorer in 50th in 21:43.
Edens obtaining the low stick for the Vikings marked the fifth straight race where Western has had a different runner leading the way.
Seattle Pacific's GNAC individual champion Maya Ewing finished eighth after running with the lead pack early, coming across the line in 20:52.
Central Washington's Maddie Harrison was their team's top runner in 28th in 21:19, while Saint Martin's Kekaihulani Halpern was 41st in 21:30 to lead the Saints.
Seattle Pacific, which finished a surprising second at the GNAC championships two weeks ago, finished seventh with 252 points. Central Washington placed 11th with 308 points, and Saint Martin's was 26th in the 28-team field with 743 points.
Biola's Bethany Mapes won the women's individual title in 20:30.
Seattle Pacific's Maya Ewing, who finished eighth, will have to wait until Monday to find out if she gets to go to nationals as an individual entry.
MEN'S RECAP...
Western Washington's quest to finally win an NCAA West Regional championship was just a hair short, as the 13th ranked Vikings finished second to 11th ranked Chico State by a 75-88 count.
16th ranked Cal Poly Pomona was third with 97 points to get the final auto qualifier to Kenosha, while 20th ranked Alaska Anchorage was fourth with 126 points, and 23rd ranked Northwest Nazarene was fifth with 141 points.
Central Washington finished tenth with 304 points, while Seattle Pacific placed 17th with 402, and Saint Martin's was 21st in the 23 team field with 599 points.
The Vikings started off slowly in the men's 10k race, with the team in fourth at the 2k mark. They then started picking off runners and teams over the final eight kilometers, getting to within seven points behind Chico State, but not enough to overtake the Wildcats in the end.
Jonah Billings (photo courtesy WWU Athletics) led the way for Western, running 29:52, while Jared Alderfer was 13th in 30:12.
Sten Brakstad was 17th in 30:23, followed by George Fernandez in 23rd in 30:28, while
Logan Werner closed out the Viking scorers in 27th in 30:35.
The Vikings ran a 1-5 split of 43 seconds, and all five scorers finished inside the top 30, a performance comparable to what they ran two weeks ago at the GNACs where they finished with a 1-5 split of 31 seconds over 8k.
Luke Hurd was the top individual finisher for Central Washington, placing 25th in 30:30. Avery Erickson led the way for Seattle Pacific in 45th in 31:15, while Noe Ortega 105th in 32:49 was Saint Martin's top finisher.
Chico State's Damian Garcia was the individual winner finishing in 29:27, four seconds clear of Cal Poly Pomona's Ricardo Vargas.
Both Alaska Anchorage and Northwest Nazarene will have to wait until Monday to find out if they will go to nationals as an at large selection. Both competed at the Lewis Crossover in October. UAA was ninth, while Northwest Nazarene was 19th at that meet.
NOTE: The Great Northwest Athletic Conference, and the sports information offices of Western Oregon, Western Washington, and Seattle Pacific contributed to this report.
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