By: Jeff Evans, Assistant AD for Athletic Communications
BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The three-time defending Great Northwest Athletic Conference champion Western Washington University Vikings are the preseason favorites in the 2025 Cross Country Preseason Coaches Poll.
The Vikings have won each of the last three GNAC cross country team titles on both the women's and men's sides. It was a clearcut poll on the women's side, with WWU receiving all 10 first-place votes to reach the maximum possible point total with 100. Northwest Nazarene's men received a pair of first-place votes and 92 total points, but WWU's men received the other eight first-place votes and topped that poll with 98 points.
WWU will look to match Alaska Anchorage as the only school in GNAC history to win four consecutive team titles across both genders in the same four seasons. UAA achieved that feat when both its women and men swept each GNAC team title from 2010-13.
WWU is scheduled to open the 2025 season Saturday, September 13 Gator Cross hosted by Green River College at Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood. The Vikings will host the Bill Roe Invitational on Saturday, September 27 at Hovander Park in Ferndale.
Amend Park in Billings, Montana will play host to the 2025 GNAC Cross Country Championships, which are scheduled for October 25. The NCAA West Regional Championship is slated for November 8 in Monmouth, Oregon and the NCAA Championships will be held November 22 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The Vikings qualified both teams for nationals in 2024 earning a pair of top-15 finishes, with the women placing 11th and men 13th.
2025 GNAC XC PRESEASON COACHES POLL
Here is a look at the 2025 GNAC Cross Country Preseason Polls:
|
Rk
|
Women (First Place Votes)
|
Points
|
2024 GNAC Finish
|
|
1.
|
Western Washington (10)
|
100
|
1st (48)
|
|
2.
|
Alaska Anchorage
|
83
|
T3rd (80)
|
|
3.
|
Simon Fraser
|
73
|
5th (95)
|
|
4.
|
Alaska Fairbanks
|
69
|
2nd (74)
|
|
5.
|
Seattle Pacific
|
61
|
T3rd (80)
|
|
6.
|
Western Oregon
|
55
|
6th (162)
|
|
7.
|
Central Washington
|
43
|
7th (181)
|
|
8.
|
Northwest Nazarene
|
31
|
8th (208)
|
|
9.
|
Montana State Billings
|
19
|
9th (279)
|
|
10.
|
Saint Martin's
|
18
|
10th (314)
|
|
Rk
|
Men (First Place Votes)
|
Points
|
2024 GNAC Finish
|
|
1.
|
Western Washington (8)
|
98
|
1st (32)
|
|
2.
|
Northwest Nazarene (2)
|
92
|
2nd (73)
|
|
3.
|
Alaska Anchorage
|
73
|
3rd (86)
|
|
4.
|
Western Oregon
|
72
|
T4th (95)
|
|
5.
|
Central Washington
|
57
|
T4th (95)
|
|
6.
|
Simon Fraser
|
56
|
6th (153)
|
|
7.
|
Alaska Fairbanks
|
39
|
7th (196)
|
|
8.
|
Seattle Pacific
|
32
|
8th (248)
|
|
9.
|
Saint Martin's
|
21
|
9th (257)
|
|
10.
|
Montana State Billings
|
10
|
DNC
|
|
Points awarded on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis
|
Back for the Viking women are Ella Edens, Laura Halsell, Emmy Kroontje, Danielle McLain, Alanna Parker and Alexis Parker, who each have GNAC Championships experience to their names. The 2023 GNAC Freshman of the Year, Edens is the top-finishing returner earning all-conference with a 10th-place finish (21:59.9 minutes) a season ago. McLain finished 11th (22:06.6 minutes) as a true freshman in 2024, and Halsell was 13th (22:17.6) amid a group of seven Vikings who all finished in the top-14 to give them the team title. Alanna Parker competed in both the 2022 and 2023 GNAC Championships, while Kroontje was a member of the trophy-winning squad in 2023 and Alexis Parker competed on the 2022 championship squad as a freshman. Another name to watch on the WWU roster is junior Jill Philbin, who has yet to compete in a GNAC cross country championship but was the outdoor gold medalist in the 1,500 meters last May. The Vikings ran away with the team title last fall, totaling 48 points to hold off second-place Alaska by 26 points. The Vikings' biggest losses were all-conference performers Ashley Reeck (6th place, 21:49.8 minutes) and Sophie Wright (9th place, 21:58.8 minutes), Ila Davis (12th place, 22:09.5 minutes) and Emma Smith (14th place, 22:18.3 minutes).
The preseason favorite Viking men will be led by returners Jared Alderfer, Jonah Billings, Sten Brakstad, Logan Werner, George Fernandez, and Will Henry. Alderfer earned all-conference in 2024, placing ninth (24:47.0 minutes) after turning in a 17th-place finish (24:51.6 minutes) in his GNAC debut in 2022. Billings is the reigning GNAC Freshman of the Year, placing 12th (24:56.3 minutes) in his conference championship debut last fall. Brakstad was 21st (25:23.3 minutes) and Fernandez was 30th (25:45.0 minutes) among last year's field of 80 runners, as the Vikings hold the most returning depth of any GNAC team. Henry also has a GNAC rep under his belt, placing 31st (26:33.1 minutes) as a sophomore in 2023. Redshirt freshman Eli Williams, who won the GNAC gold medal in the steeplechase at the outdoor championships last May, is also projected to make his collegiate cross country debut. WWU lost each of the last two GNAC individual cross country champions from its roster, in 2024 winner Jeret Gillingham (24:18.3 minutes) and 2023 champion Kevin McDermott (24:43.5 minutes). Other key departures include 2024 all-conference performers Ryan Clough (4th place, 24:36.4 minutes) and George Karamitsos (7th place, 24:44.4 minutes).
Fans can follow WWU Cross Country online at WWUVikings.com/XC, and via social media on Twitter (@WWUTFXC), Instagram (@WWUTFXC) and Facebook (@WWUTFXC).
