ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington University Cross Country Teams will be back in action this Friday as they travel over to Colfax, Washington to run at the Cougar Classic hosted by Washington State University. The women's 6K kicks things off at 5:00 p.m. with the men's 8K kicking off at 5:45 p.m.
COUGAR CLASSIC INFO
Friday, September 12
Women's 6K – 5:00 p.m.
Men's 8K – 5:45 p.m.
Colfax Golf Club
Colfax, WA
Spectators have free admission and are asked to park at McDonald Park
QUOTING CWU HEAD CROSS COUNTRY COACH JONATHAN HILL
"I'm excited for our second test of the year! WSU will be a great opportunity to compete against a great field, at a high quality venue, and see some familiar faces in some local teams.
We'll start to split up our squads a little to give each group the exposure they need. Our men ran as a pack last week, and it'll be a challenge to recreate that gap again. Our women were a little more spread out, so it'll be fun to see what Maddy, Lilly, Payton, Katie, Julie, and everyone can do with some contact. This will be a challenge we're really looking forward to."
QUOTING CWU ASSISTANT CROSS COUNTRY COACH MATT LAYTEN:
"I'm excited for our group this weekend as we head out to Washington State! Our season has gotten off to a strong start with our training together and with our wins last weekend at home by our men's and women's teams! This meet has historically hosted strong Division I programs from across the west coast in past years and our program has worked tirelessly over the past few years to be ready to toe the line with them as well. We talk often in our program about preparing ourselves for big stages and hypercompetitive environments and this weekend will be the first opportunity this season for our group to bring their own high-level preparation and competitive spirit to a moment like this."
LAST TIME OUT
Both Wildcat squads opened the 2025 season with big victories, both placing first in the CWU XC Opener last Saturday. The men's team earned 15 points to beat out St. Martin's who earned 47 points while the women's team racked up 19 points beating out SMU who finished with 44 points.
The Wildcat men's squad saw the crimson and black claim the top five finishes in the meet.
Weston Breen paved the way for the 'Cats and was followed by
Kellen McInelly and
Luke Hurd who finished with the times of 15:58.1 and 16:00.8, respectively. Freshmen
Ares Van Straaten and
Dima Serafimovici rounded out the top five of the meet with times of 16:06.9 and 16:19.0.
Max Hutton (7th-place, 16:48.2) and
Ethan Moore (9th-place, 17:00.2) also saw top 10 finishes.
On the women's side CWU saw nine runners finish in the top 11 of the meet led by
Maddy Harrison. Kekaihulai Halpern of St. Martin's was the runner up behind Harrison with a time of 19:06.2, but the 'Cats claimed the next seven finishers in
Payton Conover (19:29.0),
Lillian Neff (19:31.3),
Katie Manly (19:38.7),
Julie Johnson (19:51.8),
Hannah Pidduck (20:15.5),
Araceli Esquivel (20:28.8), and
Helayna Bonilla (20:36.2) to round out the top-nine.
UP NEXT
CWU will travel to the opposite side of the state to run at the Pacific Lutheran Invitational in Tacoma, Washington. The 'Cats race at the PLU Invite on Saturday, Sept. 20 with the women's race kicking things off at 11:10 a.m. and the men's race to follow at 11:45 a.m. from the PLU Meadows.
