SPOKANE (Nov. 5) -- Central Washington University senior Manuel Santos (Yakima/A.C. Davis HS) and sophomore Nathan Minor (Mount Vernon) both finished in the top 40 of the NCAA Division II West Region Cross Country Championships held at Plantes Ferry Park on Saturday.

Despite the strong finishes by the men's cross country team, they were unable to advance to the NCAA Division II National Championship.

Santos was Central's top finisher on the day, coming in 31st place in the 10-kilometer race that showcased 123 runners. Santos finished with an overall time of 32:21, just two minutes back from the leader, in his final collegiate cross country race. Minor kept pace with Santos as he posted a 40th place finish with a time of 32:38, just 17 seconds behind the senior.

Nathan Power (Burlington/Burlington Edison HS) and Ryan Thompson (Edmonds/Edmonds-Woodway HS) were the only other men to finish the race in the top 90, as they finished 75th and 86th, respectively. 

The Wildcat men finished in 13th place, ahead of Grand Canyon, Montana State Billings, Alaska Fairbanks, and Cal State Monterey Bay.

On the women's side, redshirt freshman Connie Morgan (Hoquiam) finished the six-kilometer race in 87th place with a time of 24:00 and an average mile time of 6:26. It marked the sixth time this season that Morgan was been Central's top finisher. The Central women finished in 21st place on the day.

Alaska Anchorage had the top team finishes for both the men and the women's teams in the meet.

There will be four Great Northwest Athletic schools representing the conference at the National Championships held on Nov. 19 in Spokane and one school from the California Collegiate Athletic Association. Alaska Anchorage, Western Washington and Chico State will compete on both the men's and women's side while Western Oregon earned a spot on the men's side and Alaska Fairbanks on the women's.

The Wildcats wrapped up their season on Saturday.