Puga and Watson earn All-Conference honors, NNU finishes 4th in both races at GNAC Championships
Race Results:
Men Women
YAKIMA, Wash. - Jaclyn Puga and Barak Watson each earned all-conference honors and Michelle Phillips was named Newcomer of the Year as the Northwest Nazarene University cross country teams each finished fourth at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships, hosted by Central Washington University at the Apple Ridge Run Course in Yakima.
Puga and Watson both finished 10th in their respective races to earn the all-conference awards, with Puga finishing inside the top-10 for the second-straight year, while Watson earns the honor in his freshman campaign, the first time an NNU athlete has been named all-conference as a freshman. Puga clocked in at 22:48 over the 6-kilometer course, while Watson finished with 25:35 on the men's 8-kilometer layout.
Phillips finished 16th in a time of 23:22 to earn the GNAC Women's Newcomer of the Year honor, the first time an NNU harrier has been awarded this accolade.
In the team competition, the Crusaders finished fourth in both races, with Alaska Anchorage winning the women's race with 25 points, Seattle Pacific finishing second (48), Western Washington was third (64), and the Crusaders fourth with 114. On the men's side Western Washington won the team title with 33 points, Alaska Anchorage was second (70), Western Oregon finished third (74), and NNU was fourth with 99 points.
"Our top four women ran really well today," commented NNU assistant Ben Gall. "The three women's teams in front of us are all in the top-10 nationally and we wanted to compete with them, which we did. On the men's side this is the most top-35 finishes we have had at the GNAC Championships. The men ran well today, but I know we can run better."
Finishing behind Puga and Phillips for the NNU women were Ashley Rendahl (33rd, 24:26), Christine Harwood (49th, 24:57), Elisa Decker (57th, 25:15), Meagan Swenson (63rd, 25:37), Samantha Hill (73rd, 26:51), Ashley Morman (76th, 27:05), and Danielle Beesley (79th, 27:45).
Crusader men's results behind Watson were Matt Stark (17th, 26:26), Seth Clark (25th, 26:55), Neil Easter (27th, 27:03), Luke Hetrick (28th, 27:04), Kyle Gray (34th, 27:31), Jesse Baggenstos (35th, 27:31), Matt Rankin (48th, 27:57), Benard Ngeno (51st, 28:05), and Alex Crystal (61st, 28:25).
"We will step back and prepare for the NCAA West Regionals over the next two weeks," Gall added. "Hopefully we move up and move past a couple of the GNAC schools that were ahead of us today."
Seattle Pacific's Jessica Pixler won the women's individual championship for the fourth-consecutive year, while Marko Cheseto defended his men's championship for Alaska Anchorage.