BILLINGS, Mont. – Matise Mulch led the Seattle Pacific women across the finish line, and Brennan LeBlanc did likewise in the men's race at the NCAA Division II West Regional cross country meet on Saturday morning.
 
Mulch capped her freshman season by running to 59th place among the 168 finishers in the women's race. Her time of 22 minutes, 37.27 for 6 kilometers around the flat course at Amend Park was her second-fastest of the season for that distance, topped only by the 22:33.0 that she ran at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships on Nov. 5.
 
"Matise ran really well," SPU associate head coach / distance coach Chris Reed said. "She also ran well at conference, and she's really coming into form. That's what we were hoping for. She ran tough, and I really liked her race at the end."
 
SPU finished 20tj in the team standings with 494 points.
 
Falcons sophomore frontrunner Annika Esvelt started the race, but a tendon injury that she has been dealing with forced her out of it before the finish.
 
"I'm proud of her for starting the race and giving it a try. But she just wasn't able to get the race done," Reed said.
 
Close behind Mulch was Vanessa Aniteye, who was 69th in 22:45.96. Libby Michael (103rd), Maya Ewing (132nd) and Katelyn Flolo (134th) completed the scoring for the Falcons.
 
LeBLANC PACES FALCON MEN
Brennan LeBlanc capped his season by placing 74th, leading SPU to 21st in the team standings.
 
LeBlanc finished his 10 kilometers in 32 minutes, 23.66 seconds. It was his first 10K for cross country, although he has run two of them during the outdoor track season, both last spring for the Falcons. LeBlanc's best time on an oval was 33:18.69 at the PLU Invitational.
 
"There were some things that we liked on the men's side," Reed said. "Brennan had a nice race. That's a result he can be proud of. He moved up a from a couple weekends ago at conference. And the freshmen got the experience of running at a regional championships."
 
SPU competed with just the minimum five runners. Jon Owen, in the final cross country race of his career, was next across, 114th in 33:33.13.
 
The Falcons totaled 576 points.
 
"We would have liked to be a little higher (in the standings), but it's a young team," Reed said. "Of the 12 people we have on this trip (seven women, five men), they have a combined two regional races: Annika and Nicki Yorges last year, and they've only run it once. The experience was big. We're going to be so much better because of it."
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Division II West Regionals
Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022
6 kilometers at Amend Park / Billings, Mont.
 
Team scores (top 3 to nationals) – 1, Stanislaus State 91; 2, Chico State 93; 3, Biola 114; 4, Cal Poly Pomona 191; 5, Azusa Pacific 198; 6, Western Washington 220; 7, Alaska Fairbanks 221; 8, Cal State East Bay 231; 9, Simon Fraser 241; 10, Saint Martin's 248; 11, Western Oregon 262; 12, Concordia Irvine 283; 13, Fresno Pacific 309; 14, Cal State San Marcos 369; 15,Cal Poly Humboldt 425; 16, Academy of Art 436; 17, Cal State Monterey Bay 439; 18, Point Loma Nazarene 463; 19, Sonoma State 466; 20, Seattle Pacific 494; 21, Cal State East Bay 498; 22, Alaska Anchorage 566; 23, Montana State Billings 600; 24,San Francisco State 646; 25, Central Washington 755; Northwest Nazarene incomplete.
 
Top 5 – 1, Naomi Bailey (UAF) 20:53.08; 2, Kendall Kramer (UAF) 20:58.47; 3, Marissa D'Atri (Chico) 21:05.36; 4, Rosie Fordham (UAF) 21:06.187 5, Kaela Dishion (Stanislaus) 21:13.81.
 
SPU – 59, Matise Mulch 22:37.27; 69, Vanessa Aniteye 22:45.96; 103, Libby Michael 23:23.06; 132, Maya Ewing 24:06.31; 135, Katelyn Flolo 24:16.01; 138, Nicki Yorges 24:20.59.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Division II West Regionals
Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022
10 kilometers at Amend Park / Billings, Mont.
 
Team scores (top 3 to nationals) – 1, Chico State 48; 2, Western Washington 82; 3, Azusa Pacific 111; 4, Simon Fraser 126; 5, Cal Poly Pomona 127; 6, Biola 147; 7, Alaska Anchorage 235; 8, Fresno Pacific 236; 9, Cal State San Marcos 295; 10, Concordia Irvine 298; 11, San Francisco State 345; 12, Cal Poly Humboldt 347; 13, Western Oregon 371; 14, Stanislaus State 374; 15, Saint Martin;s 396; 16, Montana State Billings 396 (Saint Martin's wins tiebreaker); 17, Cal State East Bay 397; 18, Cal State Monterey Bay 449; 19, Central Washington 529; 20, Academy of Art 561; 21, Seattle Pacific 576; Alaska Fairbanks, Dominica, Hawaii Pacific, Holy Names, Northwest Nazarene incomplete.
 
Top 5 – 1, Charlie Dannatt (Simon) 30:07.49; 2, Cole Nash (UAA) 30:10.34; 3, Rory Abberton (Chico) 30:14.63; 4, Benjamin White (Biola) 30:20.69; 5, Bryan Banuelos (Fresno Pac) 30:26.89.
 
SPU – 74, Brennan LeBlanc 32:23.66; 114, Jon Owen 33:33.13; 129, Tom Thake 34:25.28; 143, Nathaniel Gale 35:22.41; 147, Lucas Reyes 36:04.50.