THIS WEEK IN THE WAC
Saturday, October 19
Bakersfield at Highlander Invitational Riverside, Calif.
Chicago State at USD Tim Young Invite Vermillion, S.D.
Grand Canyon at Bronco Invitational Sunnyvale, Calif.
Idaho at Bronco Invitational Sunnyvale, Calif.
Idaho at Inland Northwest Cross Country Classic Lewiston, Wash.
Kansas City at ISU NCAA Pre-Nationals Terre Haute, Ind.
New Mexico State at Bronco Invitational Sunnyvale, Calif.
Seattle at Emerald City Open Seattle, Wash.
Utah Valley at Bronco Invitational Sunnyvale, Calif.
WEEK 7 RESULTS
Saturday, October 12
Chicago State at UW-Parkside Lucian Rosa M-17th/19, W-22nd/25
Grand Canyon at Thunderbird Invitational No Team Score
Kansas City at Gary Stoner Invitational W-2nd/4
Texas-Pan American at UIW Cardinal Invitational M-3rd/5, W-4th/4
ATHLETES OF THE WEEK, OCT. 7-13
Texas-Pan American’s Martin Casse and Robin Galloso have been named the Western Athletic Conference men’s and women’s Cross Country Athletes of the Week, respectively, for Oct. 7-13.
Casse, a senior from Toulouse, France (Lycee-Toulouse Lautrec), finished seventh out of 111 runners with a time of 26:36.93 at the UIW Cardinal Invitational in Live Oak, Texas. His time and finish in the 8K race were his best of the season. Casse helped the Broncs to a third-place finish in the meet.
Galloso, a senior from Edinburg, Texas (Edinburg HS), recorded a fourth-place finish out of 96 runners with a time of 22:56.05 in the 6K race at the UIW Cardinal Invitational. Her fourth-place finish is her second top-five finish in a row, after finishing fourth in the Islander Splash on Sept. 27. She helped the Broncs to a fourth-place finish as a team.
Other Men’s Nominees: DeShaunte Lewis, Chicago State.
Other Women’s Nominees: Oslyn Melissa Collins, Chicago State … Natalie Cardwell, Grand Canyon.
TEAM RECAPS
Bakersfield Roadrunners
The Roadrunners competed on Sept. 21 at The Mustang Challenge, hosted by Master’s College in Santa Clarita, Calif. .... the ‘Runners finished fifth at the meet ... freshman LaShya Morgan was the top finishing Bakersfield cross country runner for the third consecutive meet, as she turned in a time of turned in a time of 19:44.08 on the 5K course to finish 36th overall ... junior Megan Thompson finished 43rd (20:15.11) ... junior Jorey Braughton posted a career best time of 20:18.51 to place 44th ... Bakersfield has been off for almost a month, but the ‘Runners will be back in action Saturday at the Highlander Invitational hosted by UC Riverside.
Chicago State Cougars
Chicago State last competed at the UW-Parkside Lucian Rosa meet in Somers, Wisc. on Oct. 12 ... the men finished 17th and the women placed 19th ... junior Oslyn Melissa Collins turned in the Cougars’ best performance, finishing in 96th with a time of 19:36.0 ... sophomore Jusilya Scott was 237th thanks to a personal best 22:16.7 ... freshman Angelica Hampton personal-best time of 22:59.1 put her in 249th place ... the men’s best performance of the day was turned in by junior DeShaunte Lewis, who finished in 71st with a time of 26:45.8 ... that time was an improvement of over 50 seconds from Lewis’ previous time on the course one month ago ... CSU is back in action on Saturday, travelling to Vermillion, S.D. for the USD Tim Young Invite.
Grand Canyon ‘Lopes
The Grand Canyon women had four runners compete at the Mesa Thunderbird Invitational following a busy weekend prior when they hosted the GCU Invitational ... freshman Natalie Cardwell was the top finisher for the Antelopes, finishing seventh among the Division I competitors ... she posted a personal-best time of 6:29.8 on the 5Kcourse ... Brooke Sutton placed eighth, finishing with a time of 6:30.5 ... both the men and women will be back in action this coming Saturday at the Bronco Invitational, hosted by Santa Clara, in Sunnyvale, Calif ... following that meet, the GCU men and women will prepare for their first-ever entry into the Western Athletic Conference Championships, hosted by Seattle U on Nov. 2.
Idaho Vandals
The University of Idaho men’s and women’s cross country team competed against some of the nation’s top runners, on Oct. 5, at the Dellinger Invitational ... on the men’s side junior Cody Helbling crossed the finish line first for the Vandals with his 34th-place time of 25:01 ... freshman Nicholas Boersma was the second Vandal across the line with a time of 25:29 ... for the women, sophomore Halie Raudenbush led the way at 20th overall with a time of 17:36 ... the women finished in sixth place with 175 points, while the men placed seventh with 214 points ... next on the schedule for the Vandals is a team split on Saturday ... part of the squad with travel to Sunnyvale, Calif., for the Bronco Invitational, while another group will travel to Lewiston, Idaho for the Inland Northwest Cross Country Classic.
Kansas City Kangaroos
The ‘Roos sent nine runners to the Gary Stoner Invitational in Fayette, Mo. on Oct. 12, hosted by Central Methodist University ... the women competed with a full squad, taking second place ... junior Siara Stahl placed fourth, completing the 5K course in 19:20.38 ... she was joined in the top 10 by Angel Gannon (sixth), Megan Mills (eighth) and Kaitlyn Stryczek (10th) ... on the men’s side, Larry Lopez placed 11th and Kyle Bremer placed 17th ... this week, the ‘Roos will complete the regular season portion of the schedule at the ISU NCAA Pre-Nationals, which will take place at the same location as the NCAA Championships, at Terre Haute, Ind.
New Mexico State Aggies
NM State last competed in the Rim Rock Collegiate Classic on Oct. 5 ... the women ran a 6K and finished fourth with 113 points, the men also finished fourth in an 8K with 109 points ... for the women, junior Diana Hawk paced the Aggies and finished 17th overall with a time of 22:31.89 ... this is the fifth time in as many races that Hawk has finished first for the Aggies ... junior Megan McNally had another top-20 finish with a time of 22:33.23, which was good for 19th overall ... for the men, junior Hab Rubio finished 16th, with a time of 25:49.17 ...this is the first time that Rubio has paced the Aggies ... he was joined by junior Nathan Starr, who finished 20th overall with a time of 26:11.29 ... the Aggies were off last weekend, and will travel to Sunnyvale, Calif., for the Santa Clara Invitational on Saturday.
Seattle University Redhawks
The Seattle U women landed in eighth place, and the men placed 10th, at the Bill Dellinger Invitational hosted by Oregon, on Oct. 5 ... the meet is traditionally one of the strongest fields in the Pacific Northwest ... for the first time since her freshman season, Hannah Mittelstaedt was not the first Redhawk to cross the finish line, as Lauren Hammerle finished in 40th place in 17:59 ... Gus Arroyo finished just ahead of teammate Nathan McLaughlin, with Arroyo crossing the finish line in 26:08, followed by McLaughlin in 26:11 ... Seattle U has had the last two weeks off to prepare for their regular season home meet, the Emerald City Open, on Saturday ... thanks to the efforts of Meghan Arigo and Elena Smith, the cross country team will raise awareness about breast cancer, as the Emerald City Open will now serve as a Pink Meet.
Texas-Pan American Broncs
The UTPA men’s and women’s cross country teams last competed at the UIW Cardinal Invitational on Oct. 12 ... the men finished third out of five teams, and the women placed fourth ... senior Robin Galloso finished in fourth place out of 96 runners with a time of 22:56.05 in the 6K race ... this is Galloso’s second-straight fourth-place finish ... senior Martin Casse finished seventh out 111 runners with a time of 26:36.93 ... his time and finish were his best of the season ... the UIW Cardinal Invitational was the last meet of the regular season for the Broncs ... UTPA will prepare for the WAC Cross Country Championships, which will take place on Nov. 2, in Seattle.
Utah Valley Wolverines
Both the Utah Valley men and women claimed a title at the Color Country Invitational on Oct. 4 ... the UVU men had a perfect team score, taking top six team-scoring spots due to unattached runners in the field ... the UVU women placed first after winning tiebreaker with Idaho State ... sophomore Darian Sharp had her highest finish of the year, as she led UVU women for second straight race … she also placed second at the same event as a freshman last year ... it is her second time leading the UVU women this season … sophomore Jason Lynch placed third with a time of 19:42.8, to lead the men on the week ... the Wolverines are off this week, before traveling to Sunnyvale, Calif., for the Santa Clara Invitational on Oct. 19.