Women's Results | Men's Results

MONMOUTH, Ore. - The Western Washington University Women's Cross Country team placed 2^nd in the NCAA Division II West Regional Saturday at Ash Creek Preserve in Monmouth, Ore to earn an automatic qualification into the National Championship meet Nov. 21 in Joplin, Mo.

Senior Taylor Guenther (Vancouver, WA/Prairie) earned USTFCCCA All-Region honors as the highest placing WWU racer in 6^th place with a time of 21:21.29 on the 6,000-meter course (top 25 earn all-region honors).

The Vikings placed 2^nd in the meet with 165 points and a combined time of 1:50:09.71, trailing regional winner Chico State (89 points, 1:48:21.76 combined time). This is the highest finish for the women's team at the regional meet since joining Division II. WWU will compete in the National Championship for the 7^th time in the last 8 seasons (finished 12^th in 2014).

"The women ran a great race by placing second and I really think we have more left in the tank as we head to Nationals. I am very proud of them," said head coach Pee Wee Halsell.

Here are the women's results of the seven Viking runners (team finished 2^nd out of 22 teams):

• Taylor Guenther (Jr., Vancouver, WA/Prairie) - 6^th place (21:21.29)
• Tracy Melville (Fr., Lamont, WA/Lind-Ritzville/Sprague) - 26^th place (21:58.44)
• Brittany Grant (Jr., Port Townsend, WA) - 27^th place (21:59.95)
• Shawna Troupe (Jr., Kelso, WA) - 49^th place (22:20.03)
• Lillianna Stelling (Jr., Langley, WA/South Whidbey) - 58^th place (22:30.00)
• Sara Taferre (Jr., Vancouver, WA/Skyview) - 74^th place (22:43.51)
• Alexandra Laiblin (So, Oak Harbor, WA) - 80^th place (22:45.79)

The men placed 6^th in the regional field with 194 points and a combined time of 2:35:41.23 on the 10,000-meter course. By not finishing in the top four in the team standings, Western snaps a string of eight consecutive seasons qualifying for the NCAA II Men's National Championship. Sophomore Andrew Wise (Denver, CO/East) led the Vikings with a 14^th-place finish in 30:22.33 to earn USTFCCCA All-Region honors.

"The man ran a good solid race today, it just was not meant to be," added Halsell. "I am very proud of them and feel like they would have done well in nationals, but we had too many teams ahead of us to make up any ground."

Here are the men's results of the seven Viking runners (team finished 6^th out of 23 teams):

• Andrew Wise (So., Denver, CO/East) - 14^th place (30:22.33 14)
• Sean Eustis (So., Washougal, WA) - 28^th place (30:46.85 28)
• Isaac Derline (So, Kent, WA/Kentridge) - 46^th place (31:26.03)
• Matthew Lutz (Jr., Bremerton, WA/Olympic) - 47^th place (31:26.56)
• Max Romey (Jr., Anchorage, AK/Robert Service) - 59^th place (31:39.46)
• Nick Mounier (RS Fr., Kelso, WA) - 60^th place (31:39.58)
• Will Jones (Jr., Vancouver, WA/Columbia River) - 63^rd place (31:48.59)

The Vikings entered the regional ranked No. 4 (women) and No. 7 (men) in the West Region rankings heading into Saturday's meet. The top five women's teams and top four men's teams automatically automatic qualified for the NCAA II National Championship to be held Nov. 21 in Joplin, Mo.

Cross Country Links:

• WWU Cross Country
• 2015 WWU Meet-by-Meet Results
• NCAA Cross Country
• NCAA II Regional Cross Country Information (Monmouth, OR)