BILLINGS, Mont. – The Western Washington University men's and women's Cross Country teams both placed 5^th at the NCAA Division II West Regional meet held Saturday in sub-freezing temperatures at Amend Park.

 

Both performances give the Vikings a solid shot at receiving one of the 10 at-large berths to the NCAA Division II Championships that will feature a 34-team field at the national meet as part of the DII Festival on Saturday, December 1 at Schenley Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

 

"I am very proud of how both teams raced today and how they left it all out on the course…they are spent right now," said WWU head coach Pee Wee Halsell. "Both teams stepped up and really gave a great performance in less-than-ideal conditions. We battled on both sides and just had a really great team effort today."

 

The 34-team field for the NCAA Division II Championships will be announced on NCAA.com no later than 2 pm PT on Monday.

 

"I feel like we've had a great season running in a very tough region, and done everything we can to make a case for both teams going to nationals," added Halsell.

 

The NCAA II West Regional meet was hosted by Montana State Billings at Amend Park. Chico State won the men's 10K race and Alaska Anchorage was the winner of the women's 6K race.

XC🎽 | Congratulations to both the men's and women's @wwutfxc teams placing 5th at the NCAA II West Region meet, with Jane Barr, Eric Hamel and Jadon Olson earning All-Region honors for placing in the top 25.#RunViks pic.twitter.com/TqGMKX6TTP
— WWU Athletics (@WWUAthletics) November 17, 2018

The WWU men placed 5^th out of 24 scoring teams for the highest regional finish since placing 4^th in back-to-back seasons in 2013-14. The Vikings scored 159 points to finish well-ahead of sixth-place Western Oregon (182 points). Chico State won the team title with all five scoring runners placing in the top 14, and all seven participating runners earning All-West Region honors for top 25 finishes. Simon Fraser (63 points), Alaska Anchorage (116 points) and Cal Poly Pomona (146 points) finished ahead of the Vikings.

 

Senior Jadon Olson (Mill Creek, WA/Jackson) led the Vikings with a 20^th-place finish, completing the 10-kilometer course in 31:40.63. Sophomore Eric Hamel (Enumclaw, WA) was right behind Olson in 22^nd place finishing in 31:42.83. Both runners earned All-West Region honors.

 

"I thought the men's team did exactly what they've been doing all season, working together, pushing each other, and again ran a fantastic race that produced great results," said Halsell. "Very proud of Jadon and Eric for earning all-region, but it was a team effort and one through seven they were strong and gritty."

 

Here is a look at the top 10 teams in the results from the 2018 NCAA II West Region Championship:

 

 

Here is a look at the individual performances by the WWU men NCAA II West Regional:

 

 

The WWU women matched the men with a 5^th-place finish, but even more importantly, moved up three spots from its No. 8 regional ranking entering the meet. The Vikings scored 187 points with four runners in the top 40 and all five scoring runners in the top 65. WWU's performance jumped them ahead of Azusa Pacific, Point Loma and Stanislaus State to record its highest regional finish since 2^nd place in 2015.

 

Alaska Anchorage won the women's team race with 66 points, with Simon Fraser (85 points), Chico State (88 points) and Seattle Pacific (182 points) finishing ahead of the Vikings.

 

Sophomore Jane Barr (Seattle, WA/Roosevelt) led the Vikings with a 24^th-place finish to earn All-West Region honors finishing the 6-kilometer course in 21:50.86.

 

A tightly-packed group of Western runners all finished in the top 40, with junior Sophia Galvez (Los Alamitos, NM) placing 29^th (22:03.77), freshman Rebecca Lehman (Spokane Valley, WA/University) in 35^th (22:11.28) and redshirt freshman Shawnee Konrad (Mead, WA/Mt. Spokane) in 36^th (22:11.87). 

 

"The women raced their hearts out and they had so many clutch performances today, I could name them all," said Halsell. "Jane Barr had a fantastic race, but I think overall it was just a great, gutsy team performance to move up into the top 5."

 

Here is a look at the top 10 teams in the results from the 2018 NCAA II West Region Championship:

 

 

Here is a look at the individual performances by the WWU women NCAA II West Regional:

 

 

WWU will learn Monday (no later than 2 pm PT) if they are one of 10 teams selected as at-large berths for the national championship. A total of 34 teams will be selected to participate in the 2018 NCAA Division II Championships held Dec. 1 in Pittsburg, PA as part of the DII Fall Festival. The top three teams from each of the eight regional meets automatically advance to the championship finals (24 teams), with 10 at-large teams selected by the NCAA Division II Men's and Women's Cross Country Committee using a complicated system for selection criteria. After the 34 selected teams have been determined, a minimum 24 additional individuals per gender will be selected to compete at the NCAA Championships. The announcement will be made on the NCAA II Cross Country homepage.

 

Here is a look at the 2018 WWU Cross Country schedule with meet results. Times and more detail on each event can be found online at WWUVikings.com/XC:

 

 

Fans can follow WWU Cross Country online at WWUVikings.com/XC, and via social media on Twitter (@WWUTFXC), Instagram (@WWUTFXC) and Facebook (@WWUTFXC).

 

 

-- WWU XC --