PORTLAND, Ore. – Western Washington put forth yet another dominant team performance on Saturday at the 2025 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships, sweeping the team titles for the fourth consecutive year.
 
The Vikings were selected as the GNAC Team of the Week on Monday, as their legacy continues to grow and their streak of team titles remains intact. Within the sports of cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field, Western Washington has won every women's and men's team trophy since the spring of 2023. That equates to 16 consecutive trophies won across the three sports, with the latest two being added on Saturday at Amend Park in Billings, Mont.
 

The Viking XC/TF Title Streak
Season	Sport	Men's Team Finish	Women's Team Finish
Spring, 2023	Outdoor Track & Field	First	First
Fall, 2023	Cross Country	First	First
Winter, 2024	Indoor Track & Field	First	First
Spring, 2024	Outdoor Track & Field	First	First
Fall, 2024	Cross Country	First	First
Winter, 2025	Indoor Track & Field	First	First
Spring, 2025	Outdoor Track & Field	First	First
Fall, 2025	Cross Country	First	First

 
The WWU women got the day started the right way in the early race, posting a team score of 37 points to run away with the trophy. Seattle Pacific finished a distant second with 92 points – a margin of 55 points separating the two. As it has done since the current stretch of cross country dominance began with the 2023 crown, WWU relied on unmatched depth throughout its lineup to emerge victorious once again on Saturday.
 
Perhaps most impressive for the WWU women was that last year's turnover didn't affect this year's results. Seven of the Vikings' 10 competitors in last year's conference championship meet graduated, including their top-two performers from a season ago. But a combination of three returners and seven who didn't run in last year's conference championship got the job done once again.
 
All 10 of the women who competed in the race for WWU finished within the top-32 spots among a field that featured 86 total competitors. Leading the way across the finish line was runner-up Alexis Parker, who took home her first all-conference honor in cross country with a time of 21:26.6 minutes. That was the top 6k time of her collegiate career to date. Also finishing in the top-10 for WWU were Ella Edens and Danielle McLain, who were each part of last year's title team as well. Edens placed fifth in 21:35.8 minutes and McLain was close behind in seventh place in 21:40.1 minutes. It was the third stellar performance by Edens at the conference meet, after she was the GNAC Freshman of the Year in 2023 and earned all-conference with a 10th-place finish last October. McLain meanwhile took home her first all-conference award after just missing out with an 11th-place finish in 2024.

Finishing just outside the all-conference range were seniors Laura Halsell and Emmy Kroontje. Halsell took 11th place in 21:46.1 minutes, providing WWU with another strong contribution after placing 13th in 2024. Kroontje finished in 12th place with a time of 21:46.8 minutes. It was her second conference meet, after placing 27th as a sophomore in 2023. Jill Philbin made a name for herself last spring, winning the GNAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships title in the 1,500 meters. Competing in her first GNAC Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Philbin posted a 17th-place finish with a time of 21:52.5 minutes.
  Four Viking underclassmen filled out the rest of the spots, each with solid performances their first time running at the conference meet. Freshman Cecilia Villagomez Edvalson placed 23rd in 22:01.5 minutes in just the second meet of her collegiate career. Sabrina Colbert, a transfer from Washington State, earned GNAC Newcomer of the Year honors after taking 26th place in 22:09.3 minutes. Sophomore Josephine Stevenson checked in 28th in 22:11.7 minutes and freshman Olivia Friedrich took 32nd place in 22:26.9 minutes.
 
Overall it was the fifth women's cross country team title for Western Washington, moving it into a tie with Seattle Pacific for the second-most team wins in conference history. All five crowns have come within the last six championships, as WWU has elevated itself to the top of the conference as of late.
 
It was a similar story in the men's race, with the Vikings also accumulating 37 points for a 21-point win ahead of runner-up Alaska Anchorage (58 points). Like the women, WWU's men have won five of the last six conference championships dating back to 2019. Overall WWU has nine men's team titles, trailing record holder Alaska Anchorage by two titles.
 
Sten Brakstad was the first Viking across the finish line on Saturday, finishing the 8k course with a time of 24:17.6 minutes. It was a marked improvement after last year's 21st-place finish at the conference meet, as he took home his first all-conference accolade in cross country.
 
Brakstad was the lead runner among a pack of four Vikings who all finished in the top-10 to help carry the team to victory. Overall nine of WWU's 10 runners finished within the top-33 among a field of 82 runners who started Saturday's race. Jonah Billings, the 2024 GNAC Freshman of the Year, put his best foot forward and finished in fourth place with a time of 24:26.7 minutes. That was a jump of eight spots up from last year's 12th-place finish as a freshman. Veteran Jared Alderfer contributed a ninth-place finish for the second straight championship with a time of 24:40.0 minutes. That was good enough to earn him all-conference honors once again this fall. Right behind Alderfer in 10th place was George Fernandez, who ran 24:40.2 minutes. Fernandez stepped up his game from a middle-pack contributor last year (30th place at the GNAC Championships) into an all-conference point earner this fall.

Senior Logan Werner also made a notable leap up from last year's 23rd-place finish at the conference meet, checking in 12th this time around in 24:48.8 minutes. The Vikings' youthful talent was also on display, with sophomores Eduardo Tobon, Spencer Zeljak and Cale O'Day each finishing within the top-21. Tobon took 15th place in 24:53.6 minutes and Zeljack finished 16th in 24:55.2 minutes each competing in their first conference championship meet. O'Day also made a mark in his debut cross country conference meet, taking 21st place with a personal-best 8k time of 25:04.9 minutes.
 
Freshman Leaf McQuillen finished in 33rd place in 25:39.4 minutes and freshman Nate Rumberger placed 51st in 26:14.9 minutes at their first GNAC meet as well.
 
Ben Stensland is in his third season as head cross country and track & field coach at WWU, with assistant coaches T.J. Garlatz and Haley Stensland each playing key parts in the team success across all three sports for the last four years.
 
Continuing to broach rare territory, Saturday marked the second time in conference history that a school has claimed four straight team titles in each gender during the same sequence of years as WWU joined Alaska Anchorage (2010-13). The Viking men climbed to ninth in last week's USTFCCCA national poll – their highest mark of the 2025 season thus far. WWU's women are projected to rise from last week's spot of 21, when the new rankings are unveiled on Tuesday.
 
The Vikings will now prepare for the NCAA West Region Cross Country Championships, which will take place Nov. 8 at Ash Creek Preserve in Monmouth, Ore. Both squads will also have their eyes set on returning to the NCAA Championships, which will take place Nov. 22 in Kenosha, Wis. The WWU men finished 13th nationally last year, matching their best team finish since 2014, while the women took 11th nationally for their best team finish since 2015. WWU will be in search of its sixth straight men's national team berth while the women will look to make it three consecutive national meet appearances.