Western men win Lewis Crossover, while unranked Western & Central women finish 5th & 6th...
ROMEOVILLE, Illinois--Ninth ranked Western Washington earned the victory in the men's competition at the Lewis Crossover Saturday morning under sunny skies and temperatures in the high 60s on the campus course at Lewis University, about 45 minutes by car outside of Chicago.
In the opening men's 8k race, Jared Alderfer (Paul Merca photo) led the way for the Vikings with a fourth place finish in 24:22, ten seconds behind winner Jacob Walker of Saginaw Valley State.
George Fernandez was the second Viking across the line in 24:31, followed by Sten Brakstad in 16th in 24:39.
Spencer Zeljak was 31st in 25:02, and Nicky Luce rounded out Western's five scorers in 52nd, running 25:23. The team's 1-5 split was 61 seconds.
"It was a solid performance for the men today. It's our first time ever winning the Lewis Crossover and coming in winning was our goal," said WWU Distance Coach T.J. Garlatz.
"Jared (Alderfer) did a great job of leading us out front and continues to show that his hard work is paying off. Our big goals are at the end of the season in the championship portion of our season. We have four weeks until GNAC and six weeks until regionals. Once we get Jonah Billings back, the team's going be pretty tough."
VIKINGS AND WILDCATS FINISH FIFTH AND SIXTH IN WOMEN'S RACE...
In the women's 6k race, both unranked Western Washington and Central Washington put in performances which could put the Vikings and the Wildcats in the conversation for a national top 30 ranking when the USTFCCCA Division II coaches poll releases on Wednesday.
Western finished fifth with 171 points, while Central was sixth with 176 points.
Unranked Colorado Christian took the team title with 74 points, followed by number 23 Biola (CA) with 119, and number 18 Winona State was third with 126 points.
Both Washington squads finished ahead of two nationally ranked teams in number 26 Saginaw Valley State, who was seventh, and number 16 Findlay, who finished ninth.
Ella Edens was Western Washington's top finisher in third in 21:40. Josephine Stevenson was 27th in 22:39, and Danielle McClain was 39th in 22:54.
Kendall Carter was 46th in 23:03, and Cecilia Villagomez Edvalson closed out the defending GNAC champs scoring in 56th place in 23:14.
The Vikings' 1-5 split was 1:34.
Central put three runners in the top 25, led by Maddy Harrison's (Paul Merca photo) sixth place finish in 22:05. Payton Conover was eighth in 22:13, and Dawn Hulstedt was 22nd in 22:30.
Hannah Pidduck was 58th in 23:15, and Lillian Neff was 85th in 23:40.
Central's 1-5 split was 2:05, which will potentially come back to bite the Wildcats during the championship season.
Stella Rusch led a 1-2 finish for Winona State, winning the race in 21:14.
"Ella (Edens) continues to run outstanding. All the girls she's running with upfront are established All-Americans and she's on that trajectory," added Garlatz of Western Washington. "The team as a whole exceeded outside expectations. We beat some nationally ranked team teams, despite coming in unranked, showing that our tradition of running well when it counts is something will continue this year.
Western Washington hosts the WWU Padden Invitational in Bellingham on October 24th, while Central Washington next travels to Spokane Valley on October 23rd for the Tyson Invitational at The Course at Spokane Valley.
NOTE: The USTFCCCA and the sports information offices of Western Washington, Central Washington, and Lewis University contributed to this report.
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