Saturday, October 23, 2021

LACEY, Wash. – Things played out to form for Simon Fraser on Saturday and the conference’s newest talent made its presence known at the GNAC Women’s Cross Country Championships, held Saturday at Saint Martin’s University.

Simon Fraser placed all five scoring runners in the top 10 to run away with the team title. The team’s 32 points was the lowest winning score in the GNAC Championships since Alaska Anchorage scored 28 points in 2017. The title is the first for SFU since 2014 after placing second in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Senior Olivia Willett made her final GNAC Championships one to remember, outdueling a talented bevy of Alaska freshmen to win the title in a time of 21:27.3 over 6,000 meters. One of three returning All-GNAC performers from 2019, Willett was the only one to repeat in winning a medal.

It was the pack mentality that made SFU team winners. Freshman Kate Cameron placed sixth in 21:54.6, senior Alison Andrews-Paul placed seventh in 22:00.4 and junior Megan Roxby placed eighth in 22:02.4. Junior Emily Chilton rounded out the All-GNAC spots, placing 10th in 22:15.1 as just 48 separated Simon Fraser’s scoring runners.

“Going into every practice and every race we try to group together,” Willett said of the team’s grouping ability. “We work together as a team and try to treat every like we would a race. We’re going to run together in practice. We’re going to run together in a race. We try to simulate it as much as possible so we can be ready when it’s time to race.”

Defending champion Western Washington used that group racing well to pull out an unexpected second-place finish with a score of 77 points. While not placing any runners in the top 10, the Vikings grouped the scoring five between 11th and 22nd place for just a 21-second gap. Junior Brook Wedin led WWU in 11th place in a time of 22:26.1.

Where the conference’s newest talent shined most was with Alaska. The Nanooks placed three freshmen in the top five and placed third as a team with 92 points. It is the program’s best finish at the GNAC Championships. Alaska had never placed better than fourth and last reached that plateau at the 2011 championships.

Rosie Fordham was named the Freshman of the Year after she finished runner-up to Willett in a time of 21:33.1. Kendall Kramer was right behind in third place in a time of 21:34.5 while Naomi Bailey was fourth in 21:45.

The presence of the three Alaska freshmen along with a number of talented conference newcomers made the individual race one of the most competitive in recent history. Willett used that to her advantage, letting the UAF runners lead much of the way until making her move with about a kilometer to go.

“I knew that was going to be a big pack of girls up front who wanted that title bad,” Willett said. “I just tried to play it cool, stick with them and suss out what everyone was doing. Alison and I were running together and eventually things strung out and it was a matter of who could hold on push the pace.”

Of the 10 All-GNAC performers in the meet, five were freshmen. Joining the Alaska trio in the first-year group was Cameron and Seattle Pacific’s Annika Esvelt, who placed ninth in 22:06.3.

Western Oregon junior Luz Garcia earned the Newcomer of the Year award. The junior transfer from Cal Poly Pomona placed fifth in a time of 21:48.5. She led the Wolves to a fourth-place team finish with 114 points.

Simon Fraser’s win capped an impressive day that saw Canada’s only NCAA team sweep the races. The Simon Fraser men won the team title and junior Aaron Ahl was the men’s individual winner.

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.