CHENEY, Wash. — The Eastern Washington cross country team opened their season on Friday morning in Cheney, hosting the Clash of the Inland Northwest meet including runners from Gonzaga, Idaho, Lewis-Clark State College, Carleton, Spokane Community College, Whitworth and Whitman College. The Eagles finished second on the women's side with a score of 51 and second on the men's side with 54.
 
"I love the Clash, I look forward to it every year", said head coach Sam Read. "Its our backyard, its a hard course, it kicks off the season; just a lot of fun."
 
Full Meet Results
 
The starting pistol fired for the women's 4K race at 8:30 as 79 runners embarked north across one of Eastern's upper recreation fields. The course wound around the university's ropes course and the EWU Soccer Field.
 
Senior, Cassidy Walchak-Sloan was the first Eagle across the line, finishing sixth with a new personal record of 14:09.72. Jasmin Muneton was ninth, Lilly Carlascio 11th, Rylee Brandon 13th, Ellie Linnenburger 15th, and Sara Sanders 17th rounding out the scorers for Eastern.
 
"It's going to be a crazy year for this women's squad. We have great depth and we showed it today. In her first race as an Eag, Cassidy led the way for the group; she's going to make a big impact for this squad and has her eyes set on some pretty big goals. I also have to give Rylee a shoutout for her race today; she made a move about halfway through the race to push our lead pack - not only has she made a jump in fitness to put herself in the top pack but to make that move took some guts and shows she belongs!"
 
Senior Noah Hasselblad and Evan Peters led the way for the Eagle men with a fourth and fifth place finish. Hasselblad finished with a new personal record of 18:17.70 and Peters with personal record of 18.21.20. Rounding out the scorers for the Eagles were, Marcus Lemon in 11th, Jesus Herrejon in 19th, and Charlie Ledwith in 33rd.  
 
"Our guys put in a huge summer of training, and it was fun for them to get a glimpse of that hard work today.  We had 5 guys faster than our 2^nd fastest last year and just came off a really big training block. Noah has held it down as our lead guy the last few years and is right back to it this year; but to have Evan make the jump to finish nearly side by side with him is so big for our team!"
 
Gonzaga finished first in both races at the event, the women finishing with 15 points and the men with 19 points.

"We're really excited for this year. I think we will continue to surprise some people."

"Great way to open the season, that fact that everyone is better than last year speaks to the work they put in this summer, their confidence in themselves, and their faith in Coach Sam and Coach Robyn", said Director of Track and Field / Cross Country Erin Tucker. "Great start, stay tuned!"

Up Next
Eastern will head to Colfax, Wash., for the Cougar Classic, hosted by Washington State University on Friday, Sept. 13.  
 
ABOUT EASTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS
Eastern Washington University Athletics sponsors 14 intercollegiate sports, six for men and eight for women, both as learning opportunities for its most athletically talented students and as an enhancement to student and community life. Eastern is affiliated with Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and is a member of the Big Sky Conference, an association of 10 regional schools with comparable enrollments and academic goals.

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