BILLINGS, MT. – Central Washington cross country teams placed 8^th in men's 10K race and 15^th in women's 6K race.
 
QUOTING HEAD COACH JONATHAN HILL
"Today was a historic day. I couldn't be more pleased with our teams' efforts. We asked both teams to try a new strategy and get out hard and establish ourselves in this race, from then on, just compete. Our people are fit and tough, just learning to race with confidence and really believe they can and deserve to be up front."

"Ramon and Johan are our leaders, as they go, our team goes. Finishing fifth and sixth in the entire west region is an accomplishment they should be proud of. Their 11 points paved the way for our highest team finish since 2007 and second highest regional finish in program history. Will McGonigal put together a race he can be proud of with a lifetime best over 10,000 meters. He had a plan and executed his checklist masterfully. Im so proud of Luke who is emerging as a passionate leader for us and Charlie finishing as the number eight freshman in the west region was huge. Jack had a lifetime best today and lost a shoe halfway through the race. Our guys were prepared for a fight and that's when we got punched, this time we punched back."

"Finishing third for GNAC schools (ahead of Simon Fraser, Western Oregon, Alaska Anchorage) and eighth in the west region, while fulfilling our mid-season rank was a big step in the right direction for us."

"Our women's team performance was just as meaningful as the men. We took a HUGE step forward today breaking into the top half of the west region, moving up eight spots from 23 of 24, to 15^th, improving our team score from 671 to 361. We beat GNAC teams here we haven't been close to in a while."

"Payton led us with her fastest 6K of her life and finished in 36^th place. Hannah was a warrior today too running a lifetime best, much of which with only one shoe! Beatrice continues to breakthrough, last week running under 24:00 for the first time, this was under 23:00. It was great to see our four freshmen experience this environment and embrace the challenge. This a totally different team than a year ago and we're excited to see continued progress."
 
QUOTING ASSISTANT COACH MATT LAYTEN
"This was our best day of the year by far for both of our groups! It's a true testament to their work ethic day in and day out to be ready to run well in a race like this. Most of them ran the fastest races of their lives today, and more importantly, competed at their highest level to date. Our team is full of fight, and they worked hard to ensure that they fought and earned the positions that they were capable of earning today from the moment when the gun went off, to the finish. This run today caps off a historic season of progression for our program as they set the table for even bigger seasons ahead for our young crew!"
 
RACE RESULTS
Ramon Rodriguez led the Wildcats as he finished 5^th in 30:35.48 and teammate Johan Correa was right behind, finishing 6^th in 30:35.52. Will McGonigal finished 59^th in 32:16.91. Charlie Naught and Max Hutton rounded out CWU's top five performances with times of 32:37.20 and 32:42.00, placing 75^th and 82^nd. 
 
Payton Conover led the 'Cats as she finished 36^th in 22:08.57. Hannah Pidduck and Beatrice Le Gore put together strong performances as they finished 72^nd and 77^th with times of 22:46.20 and 22:51.77. Araceli Esquivel and Camryn Holterhoff rounded out the top five performances for CWU as they placed 84^th and 96^th respectively with times of 22:58.48 and 23:11.36.
 
UP NEXT
Johan Correa and Ramon Rodriguez will travel to Sacramento, California on Saturday, November 23^rd to compete in NCAA Championships at Arcade Creek XC Course.