It's the same old story: Western Washington again sweeps GNAC cross country champs...
MONMOUTH, Oregon--No matter how you sliced it, the Western Washington men's and women's cross country teams (Thomas Lai/GNAC Sports photo) were going to find a way to win their fifth straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference titles Saturday morning at Ash Creek Preserve on the campus of Western Oregon University.
With both teams winning their fifth straight conference crowns, the Western men inched closer to the all time conference record of seven straight titles set by Alaska Anchorage from 2010-16.
The Viking women tied Alaska Anchorage for the most consecutive team titles with five, a streak that UAA accomplished from 2009-13.
MEN'S RECAP...
Jared Alderfer and George Fernandez, who have been the front runners for the tenth ranked Western Washington squad this season, found themselves up front through the first quarter of the 8-kilometer race, where there was a group of eighteen.
Over the next two kilometers, the pack broke from eighteen to twelve, with five Western Washington runners in position.
Before the 6k mark, Alderfer and Fernandez made a break from the other ten remaining runners, and it became a two man race.
Fernandez took the victory in 23:28, with Alderfer second in 23:40.
Spencer Zeljak of the Vikings was fifth in 23:53, with Sten Brakstad seventh in 24:04, and Luke Reiss tenth in 24:13 to close Western's five scorers, dominating the field with five in the top ten, and running a 1-5 split of 45 seconds.
The Vikings finished with a team score of 25 points.
Jonah Billings of Western, who was fourth in the GNAC championship race last year, made his season debut Saturday, finishing 15th in 24:27.
Central Washington finished sixth overall with a final score of 157 points, led by Chance Callinan, who was 25th in 24:46.
Seattle Pacific finished eighth overall with 236 points. Avery Erickson led the way for the Falcons in 20th place in a time of 24:40. Saint Martin's was ninth in the ten-team field with 255 points, led by Matthias White in 58th place in 26:32.
WOMEN'S RECAP...
It was clear going into Saturday's meet that it would come down to a two team battle between number 23 Western Washington, and number 26 Central Washington.
The two teams have competed almost neck and neck with each other, with the Vikings finishing ahead of the Wildcats in their two head to head matchups this season, at the Bill Roe Classic in Ferndale, and at the Lewis Crossover in Romeoville, Illinois.
In the women's 6k race, Central's Maddy Harrison tried to make it close between her and Western's Ella Edens (Paul Merca file photo) through the first 2k.
In the end, Edens showed why she's the class of the GNAC, winning comfortably in a time of 20:09 to Harrison's 20:23.
Central's Payton Conover was third in 20:49, and teammate Dawn Hulstedt was fourth in 20:51.
The real racing between the two teams was going to come down to Central's two other runners against Western's depth.
Josephine Stevenson was Western's second runner, finishing sixth in 21:03, followed by Jill Philbin in eleventh in 21:20. Kendall Carter was their fourth runner, placing twelfth in 21:22, and Danielle McLain closed out Western's five scorers in 14th in 21:24.
The Vikings snuck in a sixth runner ahead of Central's fourth runner, as Cecelia Villagomez Edvalson was 16th in 21:34.
Hannah Pidduck was Central's fourth runner in 18th place in 21:40, and Lillian Neff closed out the Wildcat scorers in 24th in 21:56.
Western Washington finished with a 1-5 split of 1:15, while Central's 1-5 split was 1:33.
According to the split scores posted, Central was winning the team battle through the first 4k, then lost it over the last 2k, as Western won by a 44 to 51 count.
Seattle Pacific was fifth with a final team score of 140 points, led by Anna Prussian, who was ninth overall in 21:09.
Saint Martin's was tenth with 275 points, led by Kekaimalino Halpern in 37th place in 22:29.
The next meet for all the GNAC schools is the NCAA Division II West Regionals in Sacramento on November 21st, at the Arcade Creek Cross Country Course.
That course will also host the NCAA Division I West Regionals on Friday November 13th.
NOTE: The Great Northwest Athletic Conference and the sports information offices of Western Washington, Central Washington, and Seattle Pacific contributed to this report.
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