NACOGDOCHES, Texas. – Seattle U Cross Country kicked off their postseason campaign at the WAC Championships, hosted by Stephen F Austin, in Nacogdoches, Texas. In a field with highly competitive teams, both the men's and women's teams kept themselves in the mix, coming home with PR's and impressive places from the meet.
"Possibly no conference in the sport of cross country has changed so much so quickly in two years than the WAC, going from a good conference to one of the elite ones in the NCAA overnight" said Head Coach Kelly Sullivan "This weekend's performances individually and team wise truly put a spotlight on the conference meet. The area had constant rain for two days leading up to the races which left the course wet and muddy, but that didn't slow anyone down as the times and depth of talent was incredible. The depth and quality improvement to the WAC is something the staff and teams in both cross country and track and field truly welcome, the higher the bar the more they can achieve in their 4–5-year careers.
"I was proud how well each handled the two races from the start. The men's leader went out at 4:21 through the first mile and was 8:53 at two miles, which is truly tremendous, and similar occurred on the women's side. The winner of the women's race averaged 5:12 per mile for the win, and those two talented men and women can be up front at their respective regionals and NCAA championships as will the conference's top teams"
We competed without a couple of talented leaders (McKenna White and Jay Grant), and both of them would have helped the team out a lot. But in the end, all you can ask is for the mass majority to perform at their best on the day it counts, and we did. I'm confident that a few years ago we would have had a handful of WAC All-Conference performers based on the times and performances, but we really want to compete against the best competition, and the WAC definitely offers that" said Sullivan.
With the additions of the Texas and Utah schools, cross country in the WAC has gone to a completely new level, which is highly appreciated by the coaching staff. Newcomer Southern Utah's men's team is only two years removed from placing 9th overall as a team at the NCAA Cross Country Championships and 24th a year ago, providing immense depth to the competition
The men performed well in a competitive field, which consisted of #25 nationally ranked California Baptist, as well as UT Arlington, Tarleton State, and Stephen F Austin, which are all ranked in the top-15 of the South-Central Region. In addition, Southern Utah is ranked #9 and Utah Valley is #13 in the Mountain Region, giving the WAC six ranked regional teams along with the nationally ranked California Baptist.
Alex Franklin has been the consistent frontrunner for the Redhawks, and he continued to be at the race. The senior finished the 8k race in 24:51, placing 42nd overall for his third straight personal best this season. The effort by Franklin now moves him to ninth all time in Seattle U history for the 8k.
Gus Harquail was in close pursuit, finishing the race in 24:58 to take home a 49th place finish. This is a new personal best for Harquail, as he PR'd by 16 seconds, and breaks the 25-minute barrier for the first time and moved to #11 all-time at Seattle U history. Hezekiah Goodwin was the third finisher for the Redhawks, as he completed the race in 25:08 to place 55th overall.
In addition to these performances, other personal bests from the men's side came from Lance Mason and Khalid Hirsi. Mason had a huge PR of over 25 seconds, as he clocked in a time of 25:29, which placed him 68th overall. Hirsi, who had been dealing with an injury this past season, showed up big for the Redhawks, running a time of 26:18, which is a new personal best by over 4 minutes.
The winner of the race clocked in an eye opening 22:58 for 8K. To put into perspective, just two years ago when Seattle University hosted the WAC Cross Country Championships in similar conditions, the winning time was 24:24 for 8k. That year, Franklin and Harquail would have finished 8th and 9th overall, while Goodwin and Mason would have been in the top-20.
The men who competed at the WAC Championships in 2021 have improved significantly this year. On a very fast course in California, Franklin ran 26:05 last year, and his new time of 24:51 is a 74 second improvement. Similarly, Lance Mason ran 27:15 last year at the WAC Championships, and now ran 25:29, which is an astonishing 106 second improvement.
The women's team took home an eighth-place team finish while going up against a stacked field like the men did with two nationally ranked teams. In the race, the Redhawks went up against California Baptist, who are ranked #14 in the national polls and #3 in the West-Regional and Utah Valley, who are ranked #24 nationally. Additionally, Southern Utah is ranked #7 and New Mexico State is ranked #14 in the Mountain Regional, while Stephen F. Austin are ranked #13 in the South-Central Region, giving the WAC five regionally ranked teams with two top-25 nationally ranked programs.
For the women, Azalea Groleau led the charge, finishing the 6k race in 22:04 to place 38th overall which in new personal best and # all-time. True freshman Caitlyn O'Neil finished close behind Groleau, as she would clock in a time of 22:13.9 which is a new personal best which was good for 44th place and a 48 second PR.
Lilianne Hargreaves, Grace Much, and Emily Harris rounded out the scoring five, as they all finished in sequential order of each other. The trio would place 55th, 56th, and 57th place respectively, with Hargreaves running 22:35.5, Much running 22:38.3, and Harris finishing in 22:40.1. The efforts by Hargreaves and Much were personal bests for both, with Hargreaves PR'ing by 13 seconds, and Much PR'ing by 39 seconds.
Similarly to the men's race, the women's winning time was insanely quick. The winner of the women's race finished in a blistering time of 19:38. For comparison, In 2020 when Seattle University hosted the WAC Championships, the winning time was 20:53. With the performances from this year, Seattle University women's team would have had all 5 of their top runners in the top 20 overall two years ago. Emily Harris placed 13th overall to earn All WAC honors in the 2020 WAC Championships with a time of 22:11, which would have placed her 45th in this year's race.
The success from this weekend improved conference rankings for both the men's and women's teams. The Redhawks will continue their postseason endeavors in two weeks, as they will compete locally for the NCAA West Regional Championships on November 11 at University Place, Wash.
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