ST. PAUL, Minn. & LACEY, Wash. – The Western Washington University Cross Country teams were in action on Saturday, with the top seven competing at the Roy Griak Invitational hosted by the University of Minnesota and members of the men's team also competing at the Ken Garland Classic hosted by Saint Martin's University.
 
At the prestigious Roy Griak Invitational, both teams placed 4^th in a deep field of five ranked teams in the women's field and three in the top 25 in the men's race.
 
In the women's 6K, senior co-captain Talia Dreicer led the way placing 15^th in a time of 23:07.1, followed closely by sophomore Rebecca Lehman (23:17.2) in 19^th place and junior co-captain Jane Barr (23:19.5) in 21^st place.
 
No. 10 nationally-ranked Augustana won the women's race with 36 points, placing four in the top 10, with No. 4 UMary in second place (89 points) and No. 14 Colorado-Colorado Springs was third with 105 points. WWU, ranked No. 15 in the most recent national poll, was just back of UCCS with 113 points.
 
The men were led by three finishers inside the top 25 in the 8K race, with junior Eric Hamel pacing the Vikings with a 16^th-place finish in 26:08.7. Senior James Jasperson was right behind Hamel in 17^th place in 26:10.6 and Minnesota native Ed Kiolbasa finished 24^th in 26:27.4.
 
No. 7 nationally-ranked Augustana completed the men's and women's sweep winning the men's competition with 42 points, edging No. 9 Michigan Tech (55 points). No. 11 Sioux Falls was in third place with 96 points and WWU was fourth with 126 points.
 
"I thought we had some good performances today in Minnesota, but I also think we have a lot left in the tank and will continue to improve as we head into the key part of the season," said WWU head coach Pee Wee Halsell. "We have a week to continue to fine tune things before our home meet and then the GNAC Championships. I like our team a lot and think they have a lot of good racing ahead of them."
 
At the Ken Garland Classic in Lacey, the WWU men had six student-athletes in action that resulted in a 3^rd-place finish 89 points. Southern Idaho won the men's 8K team competition with 46 points, followed by Northwest Nazarene with 50 points.
 
Sophomore Jesse Wiley led Western with a 6^th-place finish completing the course on the Saint Martin's University campus in 26:03.96. Sophomore Jackson McIlroy finished inside the top 20 in 15^th place with a time of 26:34.80 and junior Dario Cirlincione placed 23^rd in 26:58.89.
 
WWU will take next weekend off from competition and returns to action on October 12 with the annual WWU Classic at Sudden Valley Golf Course in Bellingham. The complete 2019 season schedule can be viewed online at WWUVikings.com/XC.

Here is a look at the results for WWU from the Roy Griak Invitational raced on the University of Minnesota Les Bolstad Golf Course in St. Paul, Minn.

Here is a look at the results from the WWU men's competitors at the Ken Garland Classic hosted by Saint Martin's University in Lacey, Wash.

The 2019 WWU cross country schedule features five regular-season meets, followed by the GNAC Championships, NCAA II West Regional and the NCAA II Championships. Start times for all meets will be posted online at WWUVikings.com/XC when they are finalized. For the 2019 season, the women will race first and the men second at each meet.

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