UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. – The Central Washington University cross country team competed at the John Payne Invitational held in University Place, Washington on Saturday afternoon.
"Pretty pleased overall with the day we had," CWU Head Coach
Kevin Adkisson said. "Everyone enjoyed the course. It was mostly flat but had some good challenge to it. Great weather definitely helped out. We had decent competition that was certainly dominated by the DI schools. I think we competed well and that was one of the goals we had. We were ready to push some pretty good paces and try to work through the middle of the race is concerned. Our team looked good on that side of things."
The women's team took second on the day, racking up 47 points.
Lily Tyrrell was the top-finisher for the Wildcats. She motored to a time of 18:22.00, good enough for eighth place. Tyrrell was joined by
Molly Mattson inside the top 10. Mattson posted a time of 18:25.30 for a 10
th place finish.
Other Wildcats to score points for the team included
Caitlin Gohr,
Delaney Clem and
Kristina Ihlen. Gohr took 14
thwith a time of 18:48.70. Clem wasn't far off with a 16
th place finish and a time of 18:50.80. Ihlen finished one spot behind Clem with a time of 18:51.60.
"Our pack spread was really good and that's encouraging," Coach Adkisson added. "On the women's side, our spread was like 35 seconds from our first through fifth place finishers."
The men's team hustled to a fourth-place finish with 99 points.
Trevor Allen led the charge by finishing the course in 25:39.6. The time was good enough for a 12
th place finish. The mark was a few seconds behind his season's best 25:06.0 posted at the Sundowner Invitational on Sept. 20.
"Trevor [Allen] had another outstanding race," Coach Adkisson said. "He's looking really strong. We're really encouraged by how he continues to grow and perform."
The rest of the Wildcat scorer's finished in a tight pack.
Zach Sundt emerged with an excellent time. He posted a 26:35.2 for a 27
th place finish.
Rajesh Gill grabbed a 29
th place finish with a time of 26:41.5.
Donovan Barnhart finished one spot behind Gill with a 26:42.7.
Henry Milodragovich was the final Wildcat scorer. The junior from Seattle took 33
rd with a time of 26:48.1.
"Our men were looking to break into SPU's pack," Coach Adkisson said. "They got us by nine points and we kind of knew we had our work cut out. We're competing with them to try and move forward in the conference."
Up next for the Wildcats is the WWU Classic in Bellingham, Washington on Oct. 12 at 10 a.m. PT.
