2015 SMU Men's Invite Results

2015 SMU Invite Women's Results

LACEY, Wash. - Isaac Derline (So., Kent/Kentridge) and Brittany Grant (Jr., Port Townsend) took the men's and women's individual titles, respectively, as nationally ranked Western Washington University dominated both divisions at the Saint Martin's University Cross Country Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 26, at the SMU campus course.

It was the second straight win for the WWU women, ranked No.10 in this week's United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches NCAA Division II Top 25 Poll. They took the open title at last week's University of Washington Sundodger Invitational.

The Viking men, rated No.18, were victorious for the second time in three weeks. They opened the season by winning the Central Washington Invitational.

"It was good stuff from everybody," said WWU head coach Pee Wee Halsell (29th year). "Everyone went out and raced hard, we worked on things and tried different strategies. Both squads are looking good and rounding out."

The WWU men had a perfect score of 15 with the first nine finishers, while host Saint Martin's had 50.

Derline led the way with a time of 25:42 over the eight-kilometer course, nine seconds better than runner-up Matthew Lutz (Jr., Bremerton/Olympic), who crossed the finish line in 25:51. They were followed by Andrew Wise (So., Denver, CO/East) (26:03), Cody McCranie (Jr., Auburn) (26:12), Nick Mounier (R-Fr., Kelso) (26:15), Sean Eustis (So., Washougal) (26:16) and Will Jones (Jr., Vancouver/Columbia River) (26:18).

The Viking women had the first four placers and 10 of the top 13 to finish with 16 points. Saint Martin's had 57 and Central 65.

Grant completed the five-kilometer distance in 17:49, with Taylor Guenther (Sr., Vancouver/Prairie) second in 18:22. Tracy Melville (Fr., Lamont/Sprague) was third (18:32) and Lillianna Stelling (Jr., Langley/South Whidbey) fourth (18:40.19).

Completing WWU's scorers were Shawna Troupe (Jr., Kelso) sixth (18:43), Alexandria Laiblin (So., Oak Harbor) seventh (18:44), and Sofia Marikis (Jr., Nine Mile Falls/Lakeside) ninth (18:48).

The Vikings take a week off before having their own WWU Invitational on Oct. 10 (10 a.m.) at Lake Padden Park.