ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington University Cross Country Teams opened their season hosting the CWU XC Opener on the campus of CWU late Saturday morning. Both teams finished first in the meet with both Weston Breen and Maddy Harrison reclaiming their titles from a season ago. The men's team took first place in the meet with 22 total points while the women's team added a first-place finish with a total of 15 points. 
 
QUOTING CWU ASSISTANT CROSS COUNTRY COACH MATT LAYTEN:

"I was really happy with today! This is our second year of this event and it's turned into a really nice season opener for us. Our goal is to continue growing this event each year as a nice showcase of cross country and our program on campus and in the area! Really appreciated Coach Jackson and Saint Martin's for coming out this morning. It was a little bit rainy as we started but it was a great atmosphere to start the fall. I want to thank everyone who helped put on the event and helped make it another strong success this year!

Starting with our guys, Weston Breen defended his title from last year and he's shown to be a really solid leader and front runner for us! He's a hard worker so it's been fun to see him take a win in his first race of this year. We had a solid group of freshmen coming in and they packed up with Weston throughout the race with Cristian Rosca, Sylas Allen, and Sam Wagner. They all had a great start to their collegiate career. Charles Naught had a solid start to his season and he's been a solid leader for us as we get the fall started. I'm excited to see what this young group of guys can do this year and it's nice to start the year with a win!

On the women's side it should be an exciting year for us. our goal today was to pack up our group and see how long we can hold it for. Our conference 10K champion, Maddy Harrison, defended her title from a year ago coming off a great outdoor track season! Conference 10K silver medalist, Payton Conover, ran very strong throughout the race and had a nice finish to her run as usual, so we're excited about that. Sophomore Dawn Hulstedt, after coming off her scoring performance in the 1,500 last spring, has started her season strong as our third runner today and ran tough at the front with Maddy and Payton. Our overall pack was great with a bunch of conference scorers from outdoor last year with Katie Manly, Hannah Pidduck, and Lillian Neff. They helped our group set the table last outdoor season for a nice start to the cross country season as we build momentum through the rest of the fall. Sophomore Paige Huntsinger and freshman Grace Grossman had very strong starts to their year working together to move through the field today. Overall, I'm excited to see where this group can go as we start off the year with a team win and a perfect score of 15 (scoring first through fifth). We have some nice depth from top to bottom this year on the women's side so it should be really exciting. I know they have big goals this year and are excited to continue doing things better than they've ever been done before!"

RACE RESULTS:
 
The Wildcats saw the top four runners on the men's side, led by Breen who finished with a time of 16:36.46. Behind Breen was newcomer Cristian Rosca who had a time of 16:57.34, Charles Naught with a time of 16:58.45, and another newcomer to the team in Sylas Allen who had a time of 17:01.17. Ryan Koenninger from Saint Martin's rounded out the top five with a time of 17:04.22. Sam Wagner rounded out the 'Cats top five with a 12th-place finish with a time of 18:03.73. 
 
All the top five finishers on the women's side donned the crimson and black. Harrison led the way with a time of 18:51.93 followed by Payton Conover with a time of 19:15.12. Dawn Hulstedt finished in third right behind Conover with a time of 19:15.91 with Hannah Pidduck and Lillian Neff rounding out the top five in fourth and fifth with times of 19:28.77 and 19:38.55, respectfully. Kekaimalino Halpern of Saint Martin's placed sixth with a time of 20:00.50 but was followed by three more 'Cats led by Katie Manly in seventh with a time of 20:05.59. Paige Huntsinger followed Manly in eighth with a time of 20:09.42 followed by Grace Grossman in ninth with a time of 20:14.45. CWU saw five other finishers: Julie Johnson in 11th with a time of 20:40.55, Teagan Pentz in 12th with a time of 20:53.53, Audrey Lucas in 13th with a time of 21:11.62, Heidi Gill in 15th with a time of 21:55.42, and Violet Gowdy in 16th with a time of 22:14.58. 

View the full results HERE
 
UP NEXT:
 
The Wildcats will head east to run at the WSU Cougar Classic. The 'Cats will take over the Colfax Golf Club in Colfax, Wash. on Friday, September 11 at 5:30 p.m. with the women's race with the men's race to follow at 6 p.m.