Number 9 Western Washington men open season victorious at Bill Roe Classic...
FERNDALE--In the team's season opening meet, the number 9 ranked Western Washington Vikings ran away from the field, placing all five scoring runners in the top ten, and seven in the top twelve at the Bill Roe WWU Classic at Hovander Park.
Jared Alderfer (WWU Athletics photo) of the Vikings led the way with his second place finish in 24:08, followed by George Fernandez in 24:29.
Luke Reiss was the third runner in, placing seventh in 24:31, followed by Sten Brakstad one place behind in 24:36, with Diego Rodriguez closing out Western's five scorers in tenth in 24:51, giving the team a 43 second 1-5 split and the low score of 31 points.
Justin Kiplagat of Trinity Western won the race in 24:07, and with teammate David Mutai's third place finish in 24:21, led their squad to a second place finish with 46 points.
Central Washington was eighth in the twelve-team field with 198 points, with Weston Breen leading the way in 25:53.
Saint Martin's was tenth with 252 points, led by Ryan Koenninger, who finished 52nd in 26:33.
In the women's 6k, Ella Edens (WWU Athletics photo) of the host school, who was fourth in this meet last year, ran to a comfortable 15-second victory over the 6k course, running 20:48.
Behind her, in what may be a preview of November's Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship, was a battle between the host Vikings, the four time defending champions, and Central Washington, who may have the team that could legitimately challenge Western for top honors.
Maddy Harrison was third overall and Central Washington's first runner across the line in 21:15, followed by Dawn Hulstedt in sixth in 21:55, and Payton Conover in seventh in 21:57.
Western answered by placing Cecilia Villagomez Edvalson in eighth in 22:06, Josephine Stevenson in tenth in 22:11, Jill Philbin in twelfth in 22:16, and Kendall Carter in 13th in 22:19, and for good measure Danielle McLain in 14th in 22:20.
Hannah Pidduck was Central's fourth runner in 15th place in 22:23, while Lillian Neff was their final scoring runner in 22nd in 22:55.
The Vikings' 1-5 split was 1:31, while the Wildcats' 1-5 was 1:40.
More telling in the battle between Western and Central was the fact that Western put five runners ahead of Central's fourth runner.
Western won the team title with 44 points to Central's 53, with Simon Fraser third at 68.
Saint Martin's was ninth in the nine team field, scoring 228 points.
The Saints were led by Kekaimalino Halpern, who was 20th in 22:47.
The Western men and women will head to Romeoville, Illinois in two weeks for one of the nation's top Division II invitational meets, the Lewis Crossover. Central Washington will travel their women's team to Illinois as well.
SEATTLE PACIFIC AND SEATTLEU COMPETE AT MIKE JOHNSON CLASSIC..
In Monmouth, Oregon, Seattle Pacific's Anna Prussian led the way for the Falcons with her 17th place finish in the women's 5k race at the Mike Johnson Classic, hosted by Western Oregon University at the Ash Creek Preserve on the WOU campus Saturday morning.
Prussian ran 18:09, as Oregon's Juliet Cherubet won the race in 15:43.
Behind Prussian, Esther Paulson was 27th in 18:23, followed by Alexa Gossett in 31st in 18:38.
Jaylynn Erickson was 60th in 19:14, and Jocelyn Schnurbusch was 63rd in 19:21, as the Falcons' 1-5 split was 72 seconds.
Seattle University was led by Mira Danish, who finished 34th in 22:08.
Oregon, the nation's number five team in the USTFCCCA D1 coaches' poll, easily won with 18 points, followed by Portland with 40 points, and Oregon State with 79.
Seattle Pacific finished sixth with 167 points, and SeattleU tenth with 246 points.
In the men's 8k race, Seattle University finished seventh and Seattle Pacific's mens' teams finished seventh and eighth.
The Redhawks scored 173 points, while the Falcons finished with a score of 237 points.
Host Western Oregon, the nation's number 24 ranked team in the USTFCCCA D2 coaches' poll, won with 27 points, followed by GNAC foes Alaska Anchorage with 65 and Northwest Nazarene with 92.
Avery Erickson of Seattle Pacific had the best individual finish of the day, placing eleventh in 25:10.
SeattleU ran a completely different team from the squad that traveled last week to California to compete at the Saint Mary's Invitational.
First year runner Jacob Crisman led the way over the 8k course for SeattleU, running 25:41.
NOTE: The sports information offices of Western Washington, Central Washington, and Western Oregon contributed to this report.
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