Saturday, October 23, 2021

LACEY, Wash. – There have been many seasons where Simon Fraser has been so close to hoisting the trophy, placing second or third in each of the last seven GNAC Men’s Cross Country Championships races.

It was close once again but this time it was Simon Fraser’s day, edging out defending champion Western Washington by five points to the conference title on Saturday at Saint Martin’s University.

Led by an individual victory by junior Aaron Ahl, SFU placed three runners in the top 10 to finish with a score of 50 points. The Vikings placed all five scoring runners in the top 15 to finish with a score of 55 points.

Ahl won the title with a time of 24:21.8 in a wet 8,000-meter race where runners dodged showers and puddles the whole way. He edged out Alaska Anchorage freshman Coleman Nash in a highly anticipated battle between the top-two male runners in the conference.

It was the chance to get that long-elusive team title that motivated Ahl and SFU the most. “We talked about it a lot coming to the meet,” Ahl said. “I have been on some of those teams that have been so close and at the last meet we thought we had it locked up and it slipped away from us. So coming in I had in the back of my head that this was the year to do it.”

Nash was named the Freshman of the Year for his performance. Nash was within striking distance of Ahl coming into the final 400 meters of the race, but Ahl’s middle-distance speed kicked in to provide just enough cushion for the victory. Nash led the Seawolves to a fourth-place team finish with 107 points.

“(The Alaska Anchorage guys) took it out pretty fast,” Ahl said of the start of the race. “Props to Coleman. He took it out hard and he made me work. With two kilometers to go, he was putting in some surges. I am more of a track guy so I had a feeling if I was there with 500 meters to go I would win.”

The team victory opened a special day for Simon Fraser, which was shut out of the cross country and track and field seasons in 2020-21 due to the closure of the U.S./Canadian border due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The SFU women also won the team title in the women’s race that followed.

Western Oregon junior Miguel Villar was named the Newcomer of the Year. The transfer from Adams State finished 10th in 24:51.7 to earn All-GNAC distinction and led the Wolves to a third-place finish with 96 points. It is the team’s best finish since WOU won the title in 2017 as the Wolves placed three runners in the top 20. Fellow junior transfer Keanu Daos was right behind Villar in 11th place in 24:55.7.

A pair of freshmen joined Ahl as all-conference selections for Simon Fraser. Charlie Dannatt placed third in 24:32.8 and Scott Arndt placed ninth in 24:49.5. Junior Jacob Moos joined Nash in the All-GNAC awards for Alaska Anchorage, placing fifth 24:42.4.

Junior Mac Franks led a pair of All-GNAC performers for Western Washington, placing sixth in 24:45.3. Freshman Jeret Gillingham finished eighth in 24:48.5.

The rest of the all-conference was rounded out by Northwest Nazarene freshman Dylan Tidwell, who placed fourth in 24:35.9, and Saint Martin’s junior Jack Farrell, who placed seventh on his home course in a time of 24:26.

The five-point margin of victory for Simon Fraser is the third closest in GNAC Men’s Championships history. Alaska Anchorage beat Humboldt State by two points in the 2002 championships and the Seawolves bettered Western Washington by three points in the 2013 championships.

Next for the conference’s 10 teams will be the NCAA West Regional Championships, which take place on Saturday, November 6 at Western Oregon’s Ash Creek Preserve.