ROMEOVILLE, Ill.--Both Western Oregon cross country teams fared well on the national stage on Saturday morning at the Lewis Crossover on the campus course at Lewis University.

The WOU men were eighth in a field of 27 Division II teams from across the country, while the women were 12th in a pool of 26 teams. Matthew Resnik ran a race to remember with a fifth-place crossing while Kyla Potratz was 11th for the women.

""We had an awesome showing out here on both sides in one of the most competitive D2 regional crossover meets in the country,".said Wolves head coach Zach Holloway. 

"Both Matthew and Kyla ran and executed with confidence today in a national caliber field. We had some of our young kids really step up and compete very well on a difficult course. We are right where we were hoping the teams would be as we approach the second half of the season."

Resnik, a junior from Albany, ran in the chase pack the entire race, working his way up the field. While Jacob Walker of Saginaw Valley (Mich.) won the race in 24:11 and Brett Davis (UC Colorado Springs) was second in 14:18, the next three runners were virtually even with Elijah Rivera of Tampa (24:21.8), Jared Alderfer of Western Washington (24:21.9) and Resnick (24:22.9). Grayson Gibson (Anderson S.C) was an eyelash behind Resnick with the same time of 24:22.9, before the next pack of runners crossed four seconds later.

Resnik's performance helped the Wolves land an eighth-place standing, with great help from Zander Campbell in 26th (24:56), Remedan Seman in 37th (25:07) and Ethan Boswell in 46th (25:19). Western Oregon finished with 214 teams points, behind winner Western Washington (114) but in front of four other Great Northwest Athletic Conference teams. Findley (Ohio) was second with 120 and UC Colorado Springs was third (120) in a very tight finish among the top three teams. 

For the women, Potratz clocked 22:18.6 on the 6K course to just miss a top 10 finish.by two seconds while also holding off 12th place crosser Lauren Sattler of Findley (22:18.9). The senior from Phoenix, Ore. was the fourth finisher among GNAC runners.

The Wolves were 12th with 313 points, just one digit behind 11th-place Concordia (312). Colorado Christian won with 74 points, followed by Biola (119), and Winona State (Minn.) with 126. Western Washington (fifth) just edged Central Washington (sixth) with 171 points to 176. 

For the Wolves after Potratz were Ali Heinly in 68th (23:23), Ella Cardwell in 73rd (23:30), Adele Beckstead in 82nd (23:39) and Maslin Sigler in 89th (23:42). 

Western will return home next Saturday to race at the George Oja Invite in Independence at the Oak Knoll GC, hosted by Linfield. That will be WOU's last tune-up before the GNAC Championships on Nov. 7 at the Ash Creek Reserve on WOU's campus.