ROMEOVILLE, Ill. & SEATTLE, Wash. – The Western Washington University men’s and women’s cross country teams were split across the country, with competition held Saturday at the Division II Conference Crossover Invitational in Romeoville, Illinois and the Emerald City Open at Seattle’s Lower Woodland Park.

DIVISION II CONFERENCE CROSSOVER INVITATIONAL
Romeoville, IL  8  Lewis XC Course  8  Host: Lewis University

The WWU women turned in a great performance in the 6,000-meter race, placing 4^th out of 28 teams, including finishing ahead of West Region foes Point Loma, Cal State San Marcos and UC San Diego. All five of WWU’s scoring runners finished in the top 50.

“The women have been training exceptionally hard and they have been coming along, and today they put it all together and had a great performance,” said head coach Pee Wee Halsell. “Today was huge for them. They were tightly packed together and they fed off each other, which they talked about before the race. They raced well today and the great result shows that, and this will give them confidence into the championship portion of the schedule.”

Juniors Sophia Galvez and Talia Dreicer, who were high school teammates in Los Alamos, New Mexico, led WWU’s seven-runner contingent finishing 28^th and 29^th in the 276-runner race. Galvez clocked 22:54.1, narrowly edging Dreicer by one-tenth of a second. Freshman Rebecca Lehman (Spokane Valley, WA/University) finished 34^th in 22:59.5, sophomore Jane Barr (Seattle, WA/Roosevelt) was 38^th in 23:03.7 and redshirt freshman Shawnee Konrad (Mead, WA/Mt. Spokane) placed 45^th in 23:07.5.

The men finished 8^th out of 27 teams with a score of 249 at the Conference Crossover Invitational. WWU tied GNAC foe Western Oregon with 249 points, but in head-to-head scoring against WOU’s top five runners, the Vikings had a 3-2 edge to claim the 8^th spot in the team standings.

Sophomore Eric Hamel (Enumclaw, WA) led WWU’s seven-runner contingent placing 27^th completing the 8,000-meter course in 25:27.9. Junior James Jasperson (Lacey, WA/North Thurston/Everett CC) was 39^th in 25:41.7 and senior Kyler Sager (Snohomish, WA/Everett CC) finished 51^st in 25:51.3.

Redshirt sophomore Ed Kiolbasa (Stillwater, MN/Stillwater Area/Univ. of North Dakota) was just behind Sager in 53^rd place (25:53.4) and senior Isaac Derline (Kent, WA/Kentridge) rounded out WWU’s top five scorers in 79^th place (26:14.6).

“I am very excited about how the men competed against a very tough field, down two runners,” added Halsell. “They stepped up and raced well today. They have to keep improving and get healthy, but I like where they are at.”

The Vikings were without two of their top runners who were held out due to minor injuries, with senior Jadon Olson (Mill Creek, WA/Jackson) and redshirt freshman Ian Fay (Duvall, WA/Cedarcrest) not making the trip.

EMERALD CITY OPEN
Seattle, WA  8  Lower Woodland Park  8  Host: Club Northwest

The remaining members of the WWU squad raced in the Emerald City Open hosted by Club Northwest at Seattle’s Lower Woodland Park.

The women placed 2^nd with a team score of 68, training Club Northwest who nearly swept with 16 points. Alaska Fairbanks was 3^rd (89), Seattle Running Club was 4^th (94) and Team Oiselle (119) rounded out the top 5 in team scoring.

Individually senior Aundrea Koger (Osage City, KS) placed 9^th covering the 6,000-meter course in 23:53. Sophomore Brook Wedin (Moran, MN) was 11^th (24:06), freshman Maria Rivera Valles(Mount Vernon, WA) was 22^nd in 25:15, freshman Hannah Madsen (Manhattan, MT) was 23^rd in 25:19 and freshman Annika Taylor (Poulsbo, WA/North Kitsap) finished 32^nd in 26:18.

The men’s squad also placed 2^nd at the event with 15 team points in the 8,000-meter race. Club Northwest swept the top five spots for a perfect score of 15, with Seattle Running Club finishing 3^rd behind Western with 75 points, Alaska Fairbanks 4^th with 111 points and Northwest University rounding out the top five with 127 team points.

Individually, junior Peter Butler (Port Angeles, WA) placed 8^th in 27:05 to lead the Vikings contingent. Redshirt freshman Jesse Wiley (Parkdale, OR/Hood River Valley) was just outside the top 10 finishing in 27:11, with senior Nick Mounier (Kelso, WA) placing 13^th (27:20) and senior Dylan Hayes (Seattle, WA/Garfield) finished 17^th (27:41).

UP NEXT

After another off weekend, the Vikings return to action for the 45^th Annual WWU Cross Country Classic on October 20 at Sudden Valley Golf Course in Bellingham. The WWU Classic will be the final regular-season meet for the Vikings before heading to the GNAC Championships Nov. 3 in Monmouth, Oregon and the NCAA II West Regional in Billings, Montana.