Wednesday, October 21, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. - It may be as close to a dynasty as you get in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

Alaska Anchorage is the odds-on favorite to win their sixth straight title, and their seventh in the last eight years, in the 2015 GNAC Cross Country Championships at Bellingham’s Lake Padden Park.

The Seawolves return four of the seven runners that last year ran to a conference meet record score of 18 points and have been just as dominant in winning all three of their meets this season. They collected two September victories at Hawaii Big Wave Invitational and the Hawaii Pacific Invitational, both with perfect 15-point scores. In their only meet against GNAC competition, the Seawolves placed four runners in the top-seven to win the Western Washington Invitational.

Henry Cheseto, the defending GNAC and West Region champion, earned All-American honors as a freshman thanks to a 19th place finish at last year’s NCAA Division II Championships. Cheseto won the Hawaii Pacific Invitational and was challenged only by his teammates and non-GNAC competitiors to win the 10,000-meter race at the WWU Invitational.

Alaska Anchorage, ranked fifth in the latest USTFCCCA Division II Coaches Poll, also returns the 2014 conference runner-up in senior Dominik Notz, who has finished no worse than fourth in a race this season, along with junior Victor Samoei (seventh) and sophomore Edwin Kangogo (eighth). The quartet leads six top-10 finishers returning to the meet in 2015.

Simon Fraser stands the best chance of challenging Alaska Anchorage’s winning streak. The Clan enters the meet ranked 12th in the national poll and return five of their top-seven finishers from last year. Junior Oliver Jorgensen, who placed sixth last year, has placed in the top-10 in three meets this season. The only time he didn’t was at the Stanford Invitational where he finished 22nd. Sophomore Marc-Antoine Rouleau was 13th at last year’s championship and has three top-20 finishes this season.

Western Washington hopes that racing on their home course will translate to a strong team finish. Second place at last year’s meet, the Vikings are ranked 21st in the USTFCCCA Poll. The Vikings won the season-opening Central Washington Invitational behind a third place finish by freshman Nickolas Mounier and were third at the Sundodger Invitational. Sophomore Isaac Derline was fifth individually at Sundodger while sophomore Andrew Wise led the Vikings to a 14th place finish at their own WWU Invitational to lead a sixth place team finish.

Montana State Billings’ Robert Peterson will challenge for a title to cap off a stellar senior season. Peterson won his first three races of the season and has finished no worse than fourth, with that fourth place coming at the University of Minnesota’s Roy Griak Invitational. Peterson finished fourth in last year’s meet.

Northwest Nazarene sophomore Isaac Mitchell placed 17th last year and had two top-10 finishes in meets this season, topped by a seventh place finish at the San Francisco State Invitational. Jared Seckel of GNAC newcomer Concordia will aim for a top-10 finish after placing 13th in the Cavaliers’ last meet, the Oct. 3 Charles Bowles Willamette Invitational. Western Oregon sophomore David Ribich has also performed well, placing 10th at Sundodger and 13th at the Western Washington Invitational.

Following this weekend’s meet, the GNAC’s teams will reconvene in Monmouth, Ore., to compete at the NCAA Division II West Region Championships at the Ash Creek Preserve, the course that hosted the last three conference meets. The top-four placing teams will advance to the NCAA Division II Championships on Sat., Nov. 21, in Joplin, Mo.