Saturday, November 21, 2015

JOPLIN, Mo. – Western Washington emerged as the GNAC’s top team while four individuals from the conference brought home All-American trophies at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships, held on the campus of Missouri Southern State University.

For the second straight meet, the Vikings succeeded in one-upping GNAC team champion Alaska Anchorage. Western Washington placed sixth in the team competition with 307 points, the program’s best finish at the championship and a six-place improvement from 2014. The Seawolves finished eighth with 317 points. Seattle Pacific, the third GNAC team qualifier, placed 15th with a score of 398 points.

Individually, Alaska Anchorage’s Caroline Kurgat and Joyce Chelimo lead four GNAC runners to earn All-American honors. The runner-up to Chelimo at both the GNAC and West Region meets, Kurgat placed sixth overall as she covered the 6,000-meter course in 20:14.4. Chelimo was seventh in 20:17.1. Both are two-time All-Americans as Kurgat placed 37th last year and Chelimo placed 13th at the 2013 Championships (as Joyce Kipchumba).

Simon Fraser’s Rebecca Bassett and Western Washington’s Taylor Guenther also repeated as All-Americans. Bassett finished 24th in a time of 21:05.9, a 34-second improvement over her time at the 2014 meet. Guenther placed 26th in 21:09.4, knocking well over a minute off of her performance last year.

While Alaska Anchorage placed four of their runners in the top-100 in the team competition, Western Washington pulled ahead by placing all five scoring runners in the top-115 of the race.

Tracy Melville was WWU’s No. 2, placing 52nd in 21:40.50. Brittany Grant finished 79th in 22:01.40 and Sara Taferre was 104th in 22:14.20. Lilianna Stelling rounded out the Vikings’ scoring five, placing 114th in 22:19.90.

Anna Patti led Seattle Pacific as she placed 52nd in a time of 21:50.9. Sarah Macdonald was three places behind in 65th place in a time of 21:50.9.

Adams State ended Grand Valley State’s run of three straight national championships, winning the team competition with 83 points. Grand Valley State finished second with 97 points. Mary’s Alexis Zeis claimed the individual title with a time of 20:03.40, winning a close race over second place Kendra Foley of Grand Valley State (20:03.70) and third place Amanda Farrough of Lewis (20:06.30).