Eastern Washington University cross country teams split squads this weekend for today's meet (Sept. 30th), at the Gans Creek Classic in Columbia, Mo. The men ran the 8k and the women ran their first 6k of the season.
The eight women runners representing EWU were Jenni Bissell, Madilynn Carr, Maddie Drennen, Lilly Fetzer, Loren Linnenburger, Faith Martinez, Jasmin Muneton and Nattie Ruzauskas. On the men's side was Anthony Carlascio, Jamie Christner, Noah Hasselblad, Jesus Herrejon, Marcus Lemon, Danny Maxwell, Austin Steed and Cameron Stuard.
"As individuals, Lily pulled that pack through and had a huge finish in that last 1k to really boost our team score and finish higher than we were projected to. Madi Carr had a great race working right off of Lily. Faith Martinez, great race for her first 6k of her career, being a freshman in this big environment, really showed up for us. That was awesome to see but overall just how strong our pack was is really going to propel us forward into the championship season. I'm really excited about that." said head cross country coach Sam Read.
For the third week in a row, sophomore Noah Hasselblad led the men's team placing in 31st with a time of 24:20.9. For the women's side, redshirt freshman Lily Fetzer was the leader for the women's team finishing 57th with a time of 21:43.6.
"The course here in Missouri is a course made for cross country. Just getting to run on a national meet course is just an experience that we don't see a lot in the northwest. Seeing some of these big time schools that are ranked in the midwest, that we normally wouldn't see, gives us a great opportunity to test ourselves but also to venture into a little bit of an unknown of what we are up against. It takes away the familiarity of who we compete in, week in and week out and on both sides we handled that really well."
The Gans Creek Classic wrapped up with the men earning a total of 380 points to finish in 14th place and the women with 350 to place 11th. The competing teams were schools from all over the country, including Weber State who is also a part of the Big Sky Conference.
"Cameron ran a really solid race, held on to Noah for the majority of it and kept strong with his pack when Noah pulled away to run a personal best himself. Those two really pulled our team along. Our three through eight probably went out too quick but really proud of them the way they battled, even being over their head a bit, just to show that grit and finish it off was really encouraging. As a team we finished right where I kind of projected us, right in the middle of the pack for teams. And with not our best day I think that's really encouraging going into our next meet and then into championship season there is a lot of improvement to be had."
The rest of the Eagles will run tomorrow (Oct.1st) at the Whitman College Open in Walla Walla, Wash. The women will open with a 6k at 10 A.M. while the men will run the 8k at 10:45 A.M.
"On the women's side, just a really great day, I'm really excited for them. Our pack was so strong, we had a big group of four through our 4k and then another group of two right behind them. And they just kind of rolled altogether through the whole race, they finished above their ranking as a team."
The cross country team will come together again for the L&C Invite on Oct. 15th in Estacada, Ore. They will then participate in the last regular meet of the season at the Sasquatch Invite (Oct. 26th) in Spokane, Wash. Afterwards EWU will be hosting, for the first time since 2010, the Big Sky Championship at the Fairways Golf course in Cheney, Wash. The men will be racing the 8k at 10 A.M. and the women will run the 5k at 11 A.M. The meet will be a free admission event.
Men's Performances
31st Noah Hasselblad (24:20.9)
52nd Cameron Stuard (24:38.1)
129th Marcus Lemon (25:33.3)
153rd Jesus Herrejon (25:41.9)
149th Anthony Carlascio (25:45.0)
153rd Jamie Christner (25:51.6)
154th Austin Steed (25:51.9)
205th Danny Maxwell (27:12.2)
Women's Performances
57th Lilly Fetzer (21:43.6)
71st Madilynn Carr (21:53.5)
86th Faith Martinez (22:06.7)
91st Jasmin Muneton (22:11.9)
96th Jenni Bissell (22:16.7)
114th Loren Linnenburger (22:26.8)
174th Maddie Drennen (23:35.6)
