Men's Results
Women's Results
YAKIMA (Sept. 10) -- Senior Manuel Santos (Yakima/A.C. Davis HS) finished second in the men's six-kilometer race, helping the Central Washington University men's cross country team to a second-place team score at the Apple Ridge Run Cross Country Invitational on Saturday morning.
The meet was the 2011 debut for the Wildcats. Central's men finished second of five complete teams, while the Wildcat women placed third among three teams at the seventh annual meet.
"Manu is probably in the best shape he has been to start a season," CWU head coach
Kevin Adkisson said of Santos. "He is determined to have a successful senior year."
Santos, who had a time of 20 minutes, 22 seconds to finish seven seconds behind winner Jordan Wolfe of Seattle Pacific University, was one of four Wildcat men to finish in the top 15 in a race that saw 41 competitors finish. Freshman Ryan Thompson (Edmonds/Edmonds-Woodway HS) was seventh with a time of 20:50, while Jon Swanson (Veradale/Central Valley HS) was 12th (21:18) and Nathan Minor (Mount Vernon) came in 15th (21:40).
The Wildcats scored 52 points, 21 behind men's team winner Seattle Pacific, who won with 31 points. Western Washington University was third with 63 points, while contingents from Lane Community College (68 points) and Skagit Valley College (134 points) finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
"The guys are looking really solid," Adkisson explained, "and I think we would have given SPU a run for their money if the two Power brothers had competed today.
Adkisson was referring to sophomore Nathan Power (Burlington/Burlington-Edison HS) and senior Scott Power (Burlington/Burlington-Edison HS), both of whom missed Saturday's season-opening meet due to injury.
In the women's competition, the Wildcats finished third of three complete teams with 68 total points. Western Washington scored 20 points and had seven of the top nine point-scoring finishes, while Seattle Pacific was second with 48 points. Freshman Katelyn Steen of Western Washington was the individual winner with a time of 15:43.
Leading the Wildcats in her cross country debut was Connie Morgan (Hoquiam), who placed 15th in the four-kilometer race with a time of 17:31. Sophomore Ashlee Sincraugh (Sumner) came in 18th (17:48), and junior Ashley Rice (Tieton/Highland HS) was 21st (18:02). The Wildcats then had a pack of five runners finish consecutively in 25th through 29th places, and two others in 31st and 32nd.
"The women are off to a good start," Adkisson said, "and we think, as we head into the next few meets when they get their momentum building, it's going to be fun. We are happy with where we are at, especially since we're only a week and a half into our season."
Central Washington will have its first out-of-state meet of the 2011 season next Saturday (Sept. 17) as they travel to Bozeman, Mont., for The Bozeman Running Company MSU Invitational.
