Tuesday, August 27, 2013

PORTLAND, Ore.  –    Alaska Anchorage will be seeking its fourth straight men’s team championship and its fifth consecutive women’s title Oct. 26 when the GNAC hosts its 13th annual championship at the Ash Creek Preserve Cross Country course in Monmouth.  Western Oregon is the host.

Both Seawolf teams won titles with record-low team scores last October at WOU.  The Anchorage men won with a score of 23, while the Seawolf women nearly missed a perfect score of 15, tallying 16 points.

The UAA men received every first-place vote in the GNAC Coaches pre-season poll and all but one in the women’s poll.

Western Washington earned a No. 2 ranking in the men’s poll  and Simon Fraser, which earned one first-place vote, finished second in the women’s poll.

Seven of last year’s Top 10 finishers are expected to return for the women’s conference championship race.

Back to defend her women’s individual title will be UAA’s Susan Tanui. 

Tanui (Sr., Eldoret, Kenya), who posted a winning time of 20:37.29 last year, went on to win the regional title in a time of 21:19 and then finished second in the national meet in a time of 20:12.6.

Also returning from last year’s all-conference (Top 10) team are UAA’s Ivy O’Guinn (Sr., Soldotna, AK), Sarah Freistone (So., Anchorage, AK – Dimond) and Susan Bick (Sr., Anchorage, AK – Bartlett) and Simon Fraser’s Lindsay Butterworth (Sr., North Vancouver, BC – Handsworth), Kansas MacKenzie (So., Vancouver, BC) and Peggy Noel (So., Tsawwassen, BC).

O’Guinn finished third a year ago, while Freistone, who earned GNAC Freshman of the Year honors, and Bick finished fourth and sixth, respectively.

Butterworth, MacKenzie and Noel earned fifth, ninth and 10th place finishes.  O’Guinn and Butterworth earned all-conference honors for the second time.

Four all-conference athletes are back on the men’s side – Dylan Anthony (Jr., Kodiak, AK) and Isaac Kangogo (Jr., Eldoret, Kenya) of Alaska Anchorage and Dak Riek (Sr., Everett, WA) and Chip Jackson (Sr., Shoreline, WA – Shorewood) of Western Washington.

Riek and Jackson are the top two returning finishers after placing third and fourth last season, while Anthony and Kangogo finished fifth and ninth.

Riek, Anthony and Kangogo will all be seeking their third consecutive all-conference Top 10 finishes. 

Riek and Anthony will also be seeking to repeat as All-Americans. Anthony won All-American honors by placing 23rd at last year’s national meet; Riek finished 37th at the 2012 national meet at Joplin.

Tanui is the lone GNAC returning All-American in the women’s division.

Five men’s teams and five women’s teams from the West Regional at Spokane will advance to the national meet in Spokane.

The national meet, which is hosted by the GNAC, will be held at the Plantes Ferry Sports Complex Nov. 23

The GNAC will also host the NCAA West Regional at Plantes Ferry on Nov. 9.

STREAKS: Alaska Anchorage’s men have qualified for five consecutive national meets, while the Seawolf women are working on a string of four consecutive national appearances.  The longest streak, however, belongs to Western Washington which has competed in six consecutive men’s national meets ... UAA athletes have won five consecutive individual GNAC men’s titles including three by Marko Cheseto (2008-10) and two by Micah Chelimo (2011-12).

WEST REGION RANKINGS (as of Aug. 27): Men - 1. Chico State; 2. Alaska Anchorage; 3. Western Washington; 4. Humboldt State; 5. Cal Baptist; 6. San Francisco State; 7. Cal Poly Pomona; 8. UC San Diego; 9. Western Oregon; 10. Montana State Billings.  Women - 1. Chico State; 2. Alaska Anchorage; 3. Simon Fraser; 4. Humboldt State; 5. Cal State Stanislaus; 6. Western Washington; 7. Seattle Pacific; 8. San Francisco State; 9. Central Washington; 10. Cal Poly Pomona.