Lake Larsen | Sports editor
The echo of the speakers could be heard shouting out the colors the runners were donning. The wind seemed to calm and the seconds counted down to the start of the men’s 8000-meter GNAC Cross Country Championship. A tight group of Wolves bunched together in their white tops and red shorts, ready to fight the rest of the GNAC for long distance running supremacy.
At the 1000-meter mark of the race, Western was spotted splitting into two packs of Wolves, one fighting for the top spots, the other falling just a few meters behind. A group of University of Alaska Anchorage runners led the charge but the Wolves were hot on their heels.
The 2000-meter mark saw several single racers sneak their way to the front of the pack. The Wolves’s male runners started to split up as the leading group shrank smaller and smaller. By 3000 meters only two Wolves were spotted toward the front, surrounded by a team of Seawolves.
With the race halfway over, the leading pack of runners had shrunk to just 10 athletes. The Wolves had a single runner in the mix, but Simon Fraser University and University of Alaska Anchorage both maintained groups of three and four runners respectively at the top.
After the 6000-meter mark, the group of leaders grew smaller with every stride. The Seawolves and Clan were all that was left with less than 1000 meters to go.
In the final push the Seawolves and Clan shot to the top, but a group of well-placed Wolves finished not too far behind. As the results were compiled, the Wolves hoped their final push was enough.
The women’s 6000-meter mirrored the men’s race with the leading runners being a team of Seawolves. Unlike the men’s race, the Wolves’s women were unable to challenge the leaders, falling into a pack in the middle of all the racers.
At the 2000-meter mark the Seawolves maintained their dominating lead. The closest Wolf to the front was nearly 50 meters behind. As the runners neared the 3000-meter mark a pair of Seattle Pacific runners stole the lead away from the Alaska Anchorage runners.
As the runners took to the straight away of the course again, the leading pack of four runners were all but gone as the next closest runner was over 70 meters behind.
After 5000 meters of running, the race was nearly over and the Wolves women were falling further and further behind. Only two Western runners were spotted in the top 30 as the runners neared the finish.
As racers crossed the finish line not a Wolf was in sight. Only three Wolves finished inside the top 50. While the women’s race left more to be desired, ending with a 7th place overall finish, the official placing for the men’s race showed Western had captured a 4th place spot.
Contact the author at howlsports@wou.edu
Photo courtesy of Ashlynn Norton
