THIS WEEK IN THE WAC
Saturday, October 12
Chicago State at UW-Parkside Lucian Rosa Somers, Wis.
Grand Canyon at Thunderbird Invitational Mesa, AZ
Kansas City at Gary Stoner Invitational Fayette, Mo.
Texas-Pan American at UIW Cardinal Invitational San Antonio, TX
WEEK 6 RESULTS
Friday, October 4
Kansas City at Adidas Notre Dame Invitational M-15th/23/W-14th/26
Utah Valley at Color Country Invitational M-1st/4, W-1st/4
Saturday, October 5
Grand Canyon at GCU Invitational M-4th/7, W-1st/6
Idaho at Dellinger Invitational M-7th/11, W-6th/10.
Seattle U at Dellinger Invitational M-10th/11, W-8th/10
Kansas City at Rim Rock Classic M-5th/5, W-6th/6 .
New Mexico State at Rim Rock Classic M-4th/5, W-4th/6
ATHLETES OF THE WEEK, SEPT. 30-OCT. 6
Grand Canyon’s Patrick Hardwick and Kansas City’s Courtney Frerichs have been named the Western Athletic Conference men’s and women’s Cross Country Athletes of the Week, respectively, for Sept. 30-Oct. 6.
Hardwick, sophomore from Gilbert, Ariz. (Perry HS), was the top-finisher for the ‘Lopes at the GCU Invitational, taking third overall among a field of 57 competitors with a time of 26:54.8 in the 8K race. Hardwick has now been the top or second-best finisher for GCU in all three meets this season. He improved upon his time from the same meet last year by nearly 30 seconds.
Frerichs, a sophomore from Nixa, Mo. (Nixa HS), won the gold race at the Notre Dame Invitational on Oct. 4. The sophomore was first out of 212 competitors and her 5K time of 17:18.2 is a new school record. Frerichs won the race by over three seconds ahead of the second-place finisher and has won every race she has entered this fall. The ‘Roos placed 14th at the meet, out of 26 teams. This is Frerichs second WAC Athlete of the Week selection this year.
Other Men’s Nominees: Cody Helbling, Idaho … Hab Rubio, New Mexico State … Gus Arroyo, Seattle U … Jason Lynch, Utah Valley.
Other Women’s Nominees: Kelsi Klotter, Grand Canyon … Halie Raudenbush, Idaho … Diana Hawk, New Mexico State … Lauren Hammerle, Seattle U … Darian Sharp, Utah Valley.
UTAH VALLEY MEN REGIONALLY RANKED
The Utah Valley men’s cross country team are the lone Western Athletic Conference school that earned recognition after being ranked in the top 15 of the regional rankings by U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
The Wolverines appear in the men’s Mountain Region rankings at No. 14.
The Idaho women dropped out of the West Region rankings this week, after holding the No. 15 spot for two weeks.
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 is off until Oct. 19, when the Roadrunners will compete in the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational in Sunnyvale, Calif.
Chicago State Cougars
Chicago State last competed at the College of DuPage Invite on Sept. 27 ... both the men and women finished fourth out of four Division I teams .. junior Oslyn Melissa Collins led the women with an 11th-place finish among 167 runners ... her time of 19:49.7 in the 5K race was the best of the day for the Cougars ... junior DeShaunte Lewis led the men, earning a 29th-place finish with a time of 26:54.4 ... junior David Prchal was the second Cougar to finish, with a time of 30:55.7 ... after a weekend off, the Cougars will return to action on Saturday at the UW-Parkside Lucian Rosa meet in Somers, Wisc.
Grand Canyon ‘Lopes
The Grand Canyon University women’s cross country team is coming off a win on Oct. 5 at their lone home meet of the season, the GCU Invitational at Estrella Mountain Regional Park in Goodyear, Ariz. ... the women’s team was first out of six teams, while the men’s squad finished fourth out of seven teams ... the men were led by Patrick Hardwick at the meet, who finished third overall with a time of 26:54.80
... Hardwick was named WAC Cross Country Athlete of the Week for his performance ... the women were led by Kelsi Klotter’s second-place finish, as they also claimed the third and fourth spots overall ... in total, the women had five of the top-10 individual finishes at the meet ... GCU will next be in action on Saturday when they compete at the Thunderbird Invitational, hosted by Mesa Community College in Mesa, Ariz.
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 Oct. 19 ... part of the squad with be at Sunnyvale, Calif., the Bronco Invitational, while another group will travel to Lewiston, Idaho for the Inland Northwest Cross Country Classic.
Kansas City Kangaroos
The ‘Roos competed at two races, with half the squad competing at the Adidas Notre Dame Invitational on Friday and the other half to the Rim Rock Classic at Kansas on Saturday ... sophomore Courtney Frerichs won for the second time in as many meets on Friday, taking the Women’s Gold Division at the Notre Dame Invitational with a time of 17:18:2 ... freshman Kelly Carpenter arrived at the finish line second for the ‘Roos, checking in at a time of 18:56.6 ... the Kansas City women earned a 14th place team finish and the men finished 15th ... the ‘Roo men were paced by Taylor Wardall (26:49.4) who placed 54th ... Kansas City will be back in action on Saturday, Oct. 12, at the Gary Stoner Invitational hosted by Central Methodist.
New Mexico State Aggies
NM State 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 have a week off before traveling to Sunnyvale, Calif., for the Santa Clara Invitational on Oct. 19.
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 ... Mittelstaedt posted a time of 18:11 to finish in 48th place ... 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 will have two weeks to prepare for their regular season home meet, the Emerald City Open, on Oct. 19 ... 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 Islander Splash in Corpus Christi, Texas on Sept. 27 ... the men finished in fourth place against seven teams, while the women placed sixth out of eight ... senior Luis Serrano placed sixth in the 8K men’s race, with time of 27:02, earning WAC Athlete of the Week honors ... Martin Casse came in 16th place out of 56 runners with a time of 28:00 and Hansel Ibarra finished in 25th place recording a time of 28:44 ... senior Robin Galloso led the women, posting an 18:40 time to place fourth in the 5K race ... coming off a bye weekend, the Broncs will return to action on this Saturday at the UIW Cardinal Invitational in San Antonio, Texas.
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.