Results

JOPLIN, Mo. - The Western Washington University Women's Cross Country made history Saturday with a 6th-place finish in the NCAA Division II National Championships held at the Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course in Joplin, Mo.

The 6th-place finish is the highest in program history since moving over to the Division II level in 1998, improving upon an 8th-place finish in the NCAA meet in 2009. Western improved from its pre-championship ranking of No. 8 in the USTFCCCAA Coaches poll with the 6th-place finish. The Vikings were listed as finishing in 7th place when the unofficial results were posted, but moved up to 6th after meet results were made official.

"What a great day for the program with the best NCAA finish in school history," said head coach Pee Wee Halsell. "I am so proud of how the ladies raced today. They worked so hard all season and today they left it all out on the course and made history. They ran hard, ran determined and the results show that. What a day to be a Viking!"

Senior Taylor Guenther (Vancouver, WA/Prairie) earned USTFCCAA All-America honors placing 26th with a time of 21:09.40 on the 6K course. Guenther also earned All-Region honors with a 6th-place finish in the NCAA Regionals and was a GNAC All-Star for her 6th-place finish in the conference championships.

"I am so proud of Taylor to end her cross country career as an All-American," added Halsell. "She was the rock of our program and worked so hard to get this point. There was a lot of work that went into this and nobody deserves or earned it more than Taylor."

Also placing in the top 100 was freshman Tracy Melville (Lamont, WA/Lind-Ritzville/Sprague) in 52nd place (21:40.50), the 5th-best finish by a freshman in the DII championship, and junior Brittany Grant (Port Townsend, WA) in 79th place (22:01.40).

The Vikings were the top placing team from the GNAC, with Alaska-Anchorage placing 8th and Seattle Pacific 15th.

Here are the women's results of the seven Viking runners (team finished 6th out of 32 teams):

• Taylor Guenther (Jr., Vancouver, WA/Prairie) - 26th place (21:09.40)
• Tracy Melville (Fr., Lamont, WA/Lind-Ritzville/Sprague) - 52nd place (21:40.50)
• Brittany Grant (Jr., Port Townsend, WA) - 79th place (22:01.40)
• Sara Taferre (Jr., Vancouver, WA/Skyview) - 104th place (22:14.20)
• Lillianna Stelling (Jr., Langley, WA/South Whidbey) - 114th place (22:19.90)
• Shawna Troupe (Jr., Kelso, WA) - 115th place (22:20.70)
• Alexandra Laiblin (So, Oak Harbor, WA) - 169th place (22:52.50)

Here are the top 10 finishing teams in the NCAA Division II Women's Cross Country Championships [ Official Results]: