BILLINGS, Mont. – So now, the wait begins for Annika Esvelt.
 
The Seattle Pacific senior ran her fastest-ever cross country race on Saturday morning, taking sixth place at the NCAA Division II West Regionals and putting herself in prime position for an individual invitation to the national championships.
 
Esvelt covered a flat 6 kilometers at Amend Park in 20 minutes, 47.72 seconds. That was the second sub-21 of her career and beat the 20:56.9 that she posted on Sept.28 at the Bill Roe Western Washington Classic in Ferndale.
 
"She was insanely aggressive right from the start,"  SPU assistant coach / distance coach Eric Hansen said. "She really dragged the race out and made everyone make a decision really early on. I think she paid for it a little bit in the second half, but she was able to hang in there and finish sixth."
 
The Falcons placed 10th in the team standings with 239 points, so will not be among the teams considered for one of the 10 at-large bids to the NCAAs.

 

But Esvelt most definitely will be part of that conversation. The top five finishers in the meet earn automatic invites. But each region also gets to send its top two individuals who were not on a qualifying team.
 
For the five runners ahead of Esvelt on Saturday, Chico State's Della Molina (fourth) and Iresh Molina (fifth) will be going with their team, which won the title with 104 points.
 
Race winner Rosie Fordham of Alaska Fairbanks and Nanooks teammate Kendall Kramer went 1-2, with Azusa Pacific's Jessica Kampman in third. Fairbanks placed fourth as a team, so very well could get one of those 10 at-large bids. Azusa will not get one.
 
If that happens, then Fordham and Kramer will be going with their team. That would leave Kampman and Esvelt at the top two from non-qualifying teams, so they would get those automatic invites. If Fairbanks doesn't get an at-large bid, then Fordham and Kendall get the two non-qualifying team invites, while Kampman and Esvelt then would be in contention for one of he eight at-large individual bids.
 
All of that will be announced by the NCAA on Monday afternoon.
 
"Honestly, I'm pretty confident," Esvelt said. "We don't know for sure. I'm not thinking about it too much. I feel like I put it all out there, and I'm really happy with it."
 
 

Along with Esvelt's sixth-place finish, junior Maya Ewing came across the line No. 2 for Seattle Pacific and 22nd overall, finishing in 21:40.55. That made her an All-Region selection for the first time. (That honor goes to the top 25 finishers.)
 
It was Ewing's second run on the Amend Park course and was significantly faster than the 24:06.31 she posted as a freshman in the 2022 West Regionals, when she placed 132nd overall.
 
"She used all 6000 meters to get there," Hansen said. "She was hanging out around 35th for quite awhile, but she always seems to be able to do a lot of work over the last kilometer to move up. She had her work cut out in the last mile and had a lot of people to pass."
 
Fellow junior Matise Mulch also was here for the second time, and she was SPU's No. 3 scorer (49th) in 22:17.91. During her freshman year at Amend, she was 59th in 22:37.27.
 
Grad student Madelyn Buckley (82hd) and sophomore Anna Prussian (83rd) rounded out the scoring for the Falcons.
 
 

"Our approach today was that we knew it was going to be a long shot to get to nationals. But we wanted to come here, take our shot, and go down swinging," Hansen said. "We went out hard, and the second half was tough for some people. But we gave it a good effort, we put ourselves in a good position to try to accomplish a really big goal, so you can't be mad about that."
 
Esvelt came into regionals off a strong third-place finish behind the two Fairbanks runners at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships two weeks ago in Bellingham. As she did in that race, Esvelt stuck her nose in with the leaders right off the starting line.

"We were supposed to go out fast, but in my mind, it wasn't fast," she said. "I still felt reasonably controlled. I didn't realize until afterward how fast it really was. … It worked out because I still finished pretty well and got a PR. I don't regret it, but I might be little more conservative next time."
 
"I think it was really good," Esvelt added. "I definitely wish I could have had more, but I gave it my all. I was really happy because I passed a girl in the last 100 meters. I really feel like I went to the well at the end."
 
AND THAT'S NOT ALL
Isaac Venable led a trio of Falcons in the men's race, completing 10 kilometers in 32:56.18 to place 92nd. That was his test cross country 10K time, beating the 33:32.2 he in last year's West Regionals at Ash Creek Preserve in Monmouth, Oregon.
 
Sophomore Silas Demmert was 107th overall in 33:26.82. Junior Nathaniel Gale had his fastest-ever 10K with a 34:09.55. His previous best was 35:23.41 as a freshman at West Regionals on this same Amend Park course in 2022.


NCAA WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
NCAA Division II West Regionals
Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024
6 kilometers at Amend Park / Billings, Mont.
 
Team scores (top 3 to nationals) – 1, Chico State 104; 2, Western Washington 115; 3, Biola 141; 4, Alaska Fairbanks 154; 5, Stanislaus State 164; 6, Alaska Anchorage 207; 7, Point Loma Nazarene 229; 8, Concordia Irvine 229 (PLNU wins tiebreaker); 9, Simon Fraser 236; 10, Seattle Pacific 239; 11, Cal Poly Pomona 271; 12, Fresno Pacific 308; 13, Azusa Pacific 314; 14, Sonoma State 347; 15, Central Washington 361; 16, Cal State San Marcos 376; 17, Western Oregon 458; 18, Cal State East Bay 492; 19, Northwest Nazarene 495; 20, Cal State San Bernardino 541; 21 Cal State Monterey Bay 548; 22, Westmont 624; 23, Montana State Billings 624 (Westmont wins tiebreaker); 24, Cal Poly Humboldt 674; 25, San Francisco State 697; 26, Chaminade 799; 27, Cal State Los Angeles 849; 28 Hawaii Pacific 861; Hawaii Hilo, Academy of Art and Saint Martin's incomplete.
 
Top 10 – 1, Rosie Fordham (UAF) 19:52.68; 2, Kendall Kramer (UAF) 20:06.84; 3, Jessica Kampman (APU) 20:31.33; 4, Della Molina (Chico) 20:31.48; 5, Iresh Molina (Chico) 20:34.52; 6, Annika Esvelt (SPU) 20:47.72; 7, Bethany Mapes (Biola) 20:50.39; 8, Lynette Ruiz (Biola) 21:06.85; 9, Jacqueline Sanchez (Stanislaus) 21:07.39; 10, Rachel Watkins (Simon) 21:10.16.
 
Other SPU – 22, Maya Ewing 21:40.55; 49, Matise Mulch 22:17.91; 82, Madelyn Buckley 22:55.94; 93, Anna Prussian 22:57.83; 124, Katelyn Flolo 23:41.97; 138, Alexa Gossett 23:53.72.
 

NCAA MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
NCAA Division II West Regionals
Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024
10 kilometers at Amend Park / Billings, Mont.
 
Team scores (top 3 to nationals) – 1, Chico State 40; 2, Western Washington 54; 3, Biola 137; 4, Cal Poly Pomona 147; 5, Azusa Pacific 149; 6, Stanislaus State 198; 7, Northwest Nazarene 223; 8, Central Washington 227; 9, Simon Fraser 259; 10, Alaska Anchorage 271; 11, Concordia Irvine 277; 12, Western Oregon 292; 13, Cal State San Marcos 313; 14, Westmont 323; 15, Cal Poly Humbolt 356; 16, Fresno Pacific 479; 17, Cal State East Bay 493; 18, Cal State Monterey Bay 497; 19, Alaska Fairbanks 553; 20, Saint Martin's 631; 21, San Francisco State 650; 22,Cal State Los Angeles 685; Seattle Pacific, Chaminade, Hawaii Pacific incomplete.
 
Top 5 – 1, Mario Giannini (Chico) 30:25.53; 2, Ryan Clough (WWU) 30:30.12; 3, Jared Wright (APU) 30:33.90; 4, Dylan White (Chico) 30:33.92; 5, Ramon Rodriguez (CWU) 30:35.48; 6, Johan Correa (CWU) 30:35.52; 7, Jeret Gillingham (WWU) 30:42.30; 8, John Peckham (UAA) 30:44.56; 9, Matthew Gordon (Chico) 30:47.11; 10, Kevin McDermott (WWU) 30:54.85.
 
SPU – 92, Isaac Venable 32:56.18; 107, Silas Demmert 33:26.82/ 122, Nathaniel Gale 34;09.55.