Willamette Runners Grab Second Straight West Regional Women's Title
By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director
CLAREMONT, Calif. -- The Willamette University women's cross country team won its second consecutive NCAA Division III West Regional championship on Saturday, Nov. 14, as the Bearcats downed the top-ranked Regional team from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.) and NWC champion Whitworth University, along with the rest of the field on the Pomona-Pitzer campus course.
Willamette was led by Olivia Mancl (Jr., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS) in second place and Taylor Ostrander (Sr., Keanai, AK/Kenai Central HS) in third place, plus a trio of runners in 18th, 20th and 21st. Mancl was timed at 21:46.32 on the 6-kilometer course and Ostrander crossed the finish line in 21:50.84.
Hannah Swanson (So., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS) took 18th in 22:47.22. Juliet Farnan (Sr., Lafayette, CA/Camplindo HS) was 20th in 22:48.93. Ami Boucher (Jr., Concord, CA/Northgate HS) placed 21st in 22:56.21.
The Bearcats recorded a team score of 64 to hold off Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, which took second place at 79. Whitworth, which won the Northwest Conference title two weeks ago, finished third with a score of 87. Colorado College was fourth at 92.
Willamette and CMS each received automatic team bids to the 2015 NCAA Division III National Championships, set for Saturday, Nov. 21 in Winneconne, Wisconsin. The championships will be held at the Lake Breeze Golf Course.
It is Willamette's seventh NCAA West Regional title in women's cross country. The Bearcats won five titles in a row from 2003 through 2007, before taking first place in 2014 and 2015.
Entering the race, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps was ranked #7 in the nation in NCAA Division III. Whitworth was listed at #9 and Willamette was ranked #10.
All five of Willamette's scoring runners earned All-West Region honors this year. Also recording All-West Region recognition was Hannah Bressler (Sr., Oak Harbor, WA/Oak Harbor HS), who placed 24th overall. All-West Region honors went to the top 35 runners in the race.
Maya Weigel of Pomona-Pitzer repeated as the individual women's champion. She won the race in 21;24.98. Kellyn Roiko of Whitworth placed fourth and trailed Mancl by just 1.56 seconds at 21:52.40. Bridget Blum from CMS was fifth at 21:58.59 and Lauren Roberts from University of Redlands (Calif.) was sixth in 22:05.10.
Allison Wood of Whitworth took seventh in 22:08.50. Stephanie Spencer from Pacific University placed eighth in 22;12.84. Close behind Spencer were Jen Lehr from CMS in ninth at 22:14.11 and Allysa Warling from Colorado College in 10th at 22:14.52. Leah Wessler, also from Colorado College, took 11th in 22:17.14.
Team at-large bids will be awarded on Sunday, Nov. 15. Whitworth and Colorado College are both solid contenders, but the NCAA awards the bids on a national basis.
After all team bids have been announced, the top seven runners in each Regional who are not on qualifying teams will receive individual bids to the NCAA Championships. Weigel, Roiko, Roberts, Wood, Spencer, Warling and Wessler have clinched individual bids if their respective teams are not selected.