MONMOUTH, Ore.--Western Washington has won the last four Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's and women's cross country titles and were picked to make it five in a row in the coaches preseason poll last August.

Western Oregon will host the event at their own Ash Creek Preserve course on campus, with the men's 8K race to start at 10 am and the women's 6K set to begin at 10:45 am. The Wolves hope to be good hosts of course, but also hope to make a dent in WWU's party to challenge for team and individual honors. 

On the men's side, the Wolves could make a run. WOU has won both races that they have hosted this year at Ash Creek, taking the Ash Creek Collegiate and the Mike Johnson Classic. In those two races, they defeated GNAC teams Alaska Anchorage, Northwest Nazarene, Seattle Pacific and Simon Fraser. In the only head-to-head race with Western Washington this season, the Vikings won the prestigious Lewis Crossover while the Wolves finished eighth. In that race, WOU finished ahead of Alaska Anchorage and Northwest Nazarene. 

Also at Lewis, WWU's Jared Alderfer finished fourth and WOU's Matthew Resnik was fifth, one second apart. Earlier this season, Resnik won the Ash Creek Collegiate and Ethan Bothwell won the Mike Johnson Classic. At the 2025 GNAC Championships, the Wolves finished fourth with Remedan Seman the top WOU runner in 11th place. Western Oregon last won the event in 2017.

On the women's side, WOU will be led by senior Kyla Potratz, who finished fourth in the GNAC Championships last year. As a team, the Wolves were seventh in 2025.

Potratz, a senior, finished second this year at Ash Creek, with Adele Beckstead behind her in third. Potratz was 11th in a loaded field at Lewis and she was fifth at the George Oja Invite up the road at Oak Knoll.

To see the GNAC Insider Podcast with Bothwell and Potratz, click here.

To follow the Live Results on Saturday, click here. 

To check out the GNAC XC Record Book, click here.