Knapp earns All-West Region honors as cross country competes at NCAA Division II West Regional

MONMOUTH, Ore. – Senior Grace Knapp definitely put together a race to remember during her last turn around Ash Creek Preserve. Knapp collected All-West Region accolades when she placed sixth at the NCAA Division II West Regional that took place Saturday. As a team, the Wolves finished 17^th on the women's side and 13^th on the men's side.

With temperatures hovering around 45-50 around race time and cloudy skies, the women went first in the 6k and compiled 437 points to place 17^th out of 27 teams. The top-three teams earned automatic qualification into Nationals with Chico State winning the title, followed by Northwest Nazarene and Cal State East Bay. The top finished out of the GNAC was Alaska Anchorage in fourth. Alaska Anchorage's Emmanuela Chelimo took home the individual title crossing at 20:22.4 to beat the rest of the field by over 27 seconds. The GNAC took the top-four spots and had five of the top six with Knapp's sixth-place finish.

Knapp paced the Wolves as she crossed in 20:57.4 and was just under eight seconds from placing second. Her sixth-place result helped her earn All-West Region honors and she will wait to see about possibly earning a trip to nationals as an individual. That release will come out on Monday.

Kaylin Cantu was the next one in for the Wolves when she posted a time of 22:02.2 to place 51^st (48^th in scoring). She was just five seconds back of a top-45 finish. Cassie McKinney grabbed a time of 22:43.2 to place in 112nd (108^th in scoring) as she was just seven seconds off of a finish inside the top-100.

Olivia Jimenez wasn't far behind McKinney's pace when she came in 122^nd (118^th in scoring) with a time of 22:57.7. Danel Camacho crossed in 164^th (157^th in scoring) with a time of 24:25.7. Rachel Bayly and Faerynn Glasscock all finished close together with Bayly posting a time of 24:31.2 to come in 166^th overall (159^th in scoring) and Glasscock came in 168^th overall (161^st in scoring) with a time of 24:37.1.

In the men's 10k race, WOU posted 357 points to come in 13^th out of 28 teams. Chico State took the team title, while Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State San Marcos also earned the other three automatic bids to nationals. Cal State San Marcos' Josh Litwiller took the individual title with a time of 29:54.4 to hold off the field by just over two seconds.

Andy Muha continued his strong performances in 10k races as he was the first one in for Western Oregon crossing with a time of 31:09.7 to place 45^th overall. He was just four seconds from a top-40 finish and nine seconds from a top-35 result.

Justin Crosswhite was the next one in for the Wolves when he posted a time of 31:36.5 to place him in 61^st overall. He was just a tenth of a second from a top-60 finish.

Zach Kanelis was just a few spots back when he came in 77^th with a time of 31:52.8. He was five seconds away from a top-70 finish. Sawyer Heckard was just under eight seconds behind the pace of Kanelis when he crossed with a time of 32:00.7 to place 82^nd.

Derek Holdsworth put together a strong race as he crossed in 92^nd with a time of 32:10.0. He was just five seconds from placing in the top-87 and 10 seconds from placing in the top-82. Hunter Mosman was the next one in for Western Oregon when he placed 111^th overall with a time of 32:35.5. Emmett Klus crossed in 123^rd (122^nd in scoring) with a time of 32:45.1. He was just four seconds off of placing in the top-115.

With the season complete, WOU will now wait to see if Knapp will advance to nationals as an individual on Monday.

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