ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington University cross country teams head to Pacific Lutheran University for their second meet of the season.
Both the men's and women's teams finished fourth at the CWU Invitational last weekend to open the 2021 cross country season.
"Looking forward to coming off our camping trip," CWU Head Coach
Kevin Adkisson said. "It was a good time for training and team building. We've seen some good progress these first couple weeks. The shorter race last weekend was a good tune-up for the longer races."
At the PLU Invitational the women will run a 6K, while the men will run an 8K. The course is mostly flat with gentle rolling hills residing on a former golf course. The field of teams consists of mainly smaller Division III schools, as well as Seattle Pacific University from the GNAC.
"Both the men and women will be running on their championship distances," Adkisson added. "This will be the first true test of where we are at."
Four Wildcats finished in the top 20 for the women.
Kay Lester led the Crimson and Black with a 10
th place finish and a time of 16:34.7. Lester set an average pace of 4:08.7 kilometers. Just two places behind her in 13
th was
Tailer Cochran with a time of 16:54.7.
Madison Child and
Kelli Heim also finished within the top 20 with times of 16:57.5 and 17:02.0 respectively.
"On the women's side people are starting to hit their stride a little better, "Adkisson said. "We are still depleted with some injuries. Zoie [Mastin] isn't quite there in terms of running yet. We are hopeful to get some people back in the next two weeks. Gals are working their tails off to cover them and keeping us moving forward positively."
Ty Savely set the mark for the men's side. He chalked up an 11
th place finish with a time of 20:19.8 with an average of 3:23.3 per kilometer.
Rajesh Gill and
Shawn Clough also finished in the top 20 at 18
th and 20
th, respectively. Gill notched a 20:33.9 mark and averaged 3:25.7 per kilometer. Clough ran a 20:36.9 with an average of 3:26.2.
"I think we can compete well on the men's side," Adkisson noted. "We are going to tell our guys to get out there and put themselves in it. It'd be encouraging to come home with a strong showing."
The women's 6k will start at approximately 11:10 am, while men's 8k begins at approximately 11:45 am.
