SPOKANE, Wash. – Eastern Washington cross country opened the 2026 season at the Clash of the Inland Northwest, hosted by Gonzaga in Spokane. The Eagle men earned a second-place team finish with 79 points, while the women placed third with 84 points.
"Great effort with us going out at the tempo of the race," Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Erin Tucker said. "The first meet is always about busting the rust, knocking the cobwebs off and just seeing where we are. Obviously, we have some work to do, but I'm really happy with the start of our season."
On the men's side,
Conner Wirth paced Eastern with a 13th-place finish, crossing the line in 24:28.5.
Charlie Ledwith followed in 22nd, clocking a new personal-best time of 24:47.0.
Grady Fournier finished 25th, Tajn Swalstad placed 26th and
Evan Cheney rounded out Eastern's scoring in 42nd.
Sara Sanders led the Eagle women, finishing 11th overall with a time of 21:44.7.
Rhiannon Davies followed in 16th with a time of 22:01.4.
Lexi Meyer added a 21st-place finish, followed by
Hannah Lee in 26th,
Ifechi Okoye in 28th and
Adrienne Root in 32nd.
"It was great just to get out there, get in uniform, have a nice little tempo run and then tear off at the end and see what you've got," Tucker added.
Eastern returns to action on Friday, Sept. 18, traveling to Missoula, Mont., for the Montana Invite.
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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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