{"id":24136,"date":"2025-11-19T04:28:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T12:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/?p=24136"},"modified":"2025-12-03T14:35:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T22:35:15","slug":"cross-country-season-recap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/cross-country-season-recap\/","title":{"rendered":"Cross-country season recap"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
The men\u2019s cross country team huddles up at regionals. | Photo from @wou_xctf on Instagram<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nov. 19 2025 | Isaac Garcia | Sports Editor<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Nov. 8, the Wolves concluded their 2025 cross-country season with the NCAA West Regionals held right here in Monmouth, where the men\u2019s team finished eighth and the women\u2019s team finished 17th. Matthew Resnik and Remedan Seman from the men\u2019s team and Kyla Potratz from the women\u2019s team had All-Region performances, with Resnik finishing 21st in the men\u2019s 10K, Seman finishing 24th in the 10K and Potratz finishing 25th in the women\u2019s 6K. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Resnik, who overcame an injury sustained during the track season, said of his regional finish, \u201cIt means a lot. Definitely. Coming from last year, got injured during track season, so didn\u2019t know how this year would pan out, but you know, going All-Region makes me feel pretty confident in myself.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seman and Potratz also both saw significant improvements. \u201cI think my freshman year, I was just getting used to it, and then last year I was really happy with my season, but I think I was 55th or something like that at regionals. So to be top 25, I just wasn\u2019t expecting that going in this season so I was pretty happy with it and excited,\u201d Potratz said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Seman, it\u2019s a similar story. He said that he didn\u2019t make the traveling roster in his first season before finishing 90th in his sophomore season and then now finishing All-Region. All three credit head coach Zach Holloway for their ability to improve, overcome challenges and find high levels of success. Holloway, who is a Western Oregon alumnus and was a part of the track and field program as a student athlete, just completed his third season as the cross-country head coach and, over the summer, became the interim head track and field coach. As an athlete at Western, Holloway is in the top 10 highest all-time performers in school history for the indoor 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter as well as the outdoor steeplechase. He\u2019s also racked up an impressive list of achievements as a coach in a short amount of time, helping both the  men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams win respective GNAC Indoor Championships in 2023, was a part of the coaching staff for the 2022 women\u2019s GNAC Outdoor team title and won four national titles as a part of the Adams State coaching staff in 2016 and 2017. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cZach\u2019s really good at personalizing the training. He\u2019ll talk to individual people and there\u2019ll be like 10 different workouts going on at a time because he just will work with you.\u201d Potratz said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Resnik and Seman both agreed. \u201cZach\u2019s just a great coach,\u201d Resnik said, \u201cAlways likes to talk to you no matter what. Wants to see how you think about whatever he thinks. He\u2019s a very knowledgeable guy, very smart but he still comes and asks you how you\u2019re doing, how you\u2019re feeling, what you think you need personally, so it\u2019s definitely a 50\/50 I feel like with that.\u201d Seman added, \u201cHe\u2019s a great coach. I think it\u2019s because of him mostly, at least for me, that I got top 25.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the all-region performances from Resnik, Seman and Potratz, the Wolves also received scoring from Ethan Bothwell, 29th in men\u2019s 10K, Samuel Fuentes, 55th in men\u2019s 10K and Isaiah Rodriguez, who finished 94th in the men\u2019s 10K. For the women\u2019s 6K, Adele Beckstead finished 79th, Jazmine Liebl finished 98th, Nettle Grey finished 121st and Charlotte Gardner finished 158th. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams have very young rosters with no seniors in either of them, which means it\u2019s likely that both can return everyone, or nearly everyone, for the 2026 season. This is an exciting prospect considering the aforementioned improvements that individuals such as Resnik, Portatz and Seman have made. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only will they be returning and building on top of successful seasons, but others on the team will look to make similar jumps under the tutelage of Holloway. Of the listed scorers for both teams, three are first-years and two are sophomores, including Resnik. \u201cOur team is so young,\u201d Potratz said of the women’s team. \u201cThe majority of them are freshmen this year and we\u2019ve already improved so much. So I\u2019m just really excited to see another year of Zach\u2019s training and  hopefully, personally, I\u2019d like to make it to nationals for cross, but it would also be so cool if the whole team made it. And I think that\u2019s definitely in reach for sure.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seman shared similar sentiments. \u201cI think it\u2019s really realistic for the boys\u2019 team to say that we can make nationals next year. We have a lot of very young guys, we\u2019re very talented, so I think the goal is to make nationals and I think it\u2019s very realistic if we just train consistently and be disciplined about our training.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the GNAC championships, the men\u2019s team took fourth place, with Seman finishing 11th, Ethan Bothwell finishing 19th, Resnik finishing 20th, Zander Campbell finishing 27th and Samuel Fuentes finishing 40th. The women\u2019s team took 7th with Potratz finishing fourth, Adele Beckstead finishing 30th, Jazmine Liebl finishing 36th, Maslin Sigler finishing 40th and Nettle Grey finishing 46th. Of note is that all three GNAC runners who finished ahead of Potratz were seniors. This will make Potratz the highest finishing returning runner in the GNAC next year, which of course puts her right in the mix of favorites for the individual GNAC title next season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of the youth on both teams, the leadership structure is a bit different than what\u2019s typical for a team. In most cases, the seniors tend to take over as team leaders, but without any seniors on these two teams, the Wolves use a sort of leadership by committee approach. \u201cI feel like all of us worked on coaching each other, making each other feel like we\u2019re also included,\u201d explained Potratz. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This leadership and positive culture has also extended past the track and courses, with 12 cross-country athletes between both teams making the academic all-GNAC list, with eight from the women\u2019s team and four from the men\u2019s team. Of the eight from the women\u2019s team, those who were selected were Charlotte Gardner \u2014 who was one of seven runners in the conference on the women\u2019s side to maintain a 4.0 \u2014 Amelia Merritt, Abbigale Elliott, Kaydence Nguyen, Kyla Potratz, Holly Hutton, Madison Huri and Natalie Perez. For the men\u2019s team, James Lackey, Ethan Bothwell, Grant Bohannon and Remedan Seman were all selected. In order for a student athlete to receive All-GNAC academic honors, they must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.2 while competing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In between now and the next cross-country season, the Wolves will have an indoor track season and an outdoor track season ahead of them. It\u2019s a quick turnaround, but one that athletes must be prepared for. On Dec. 4, just under a month after regionals, the indoor track and field season begins at the Silver State Invitational & Multis in Reno, Nevada. \u201cWe don\u2019t really have a big break,\u201d Seman said, \u201cBut we love what we do, so we do it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to the love of running and what got them into cross-country and the general track and field umbrella, Kyla Potratz said it was seeing her sister run while she was growing up. \u201cMy older sister ran and so I just loved going to her meets and just the atmosphere at races and stuff was so cool. So I was like, \u2018Hey, I want to be like my big sister.\u2019\u201d She continued, \u201cThis is just such a cool balance of you\u2019re pushing yourself every single time trying to be better and you doing that helps pull your teammates.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a similar story for Resnik, who explained, \u201cMy dad grew me up running. He always did triathlons, ironmans, all that stuff. So I\u2019m kind of just used to it. And then same thing with the individual sport, you\u2019re just working on yourself, but no matter what, it\u2019s always at the end of the day five. Five men score, five women score. So it\u2019s a team, it comes down to the team as much as it is individual so just the culture of it, it\u2019s always fun for sure.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All three also shared stories about the culture of cross-country and track and field. Both Potratz and Seman specifically shared stories of opposing athletes supporting them during meets. Potratz mentioned that during regionals, an athlete she was racing against encouraged her to keep pushing. For Seman, it was an athlete from Chico State who encouraged him and helped him set a personal record. When asked what about the sport of running creates such a welcoming environment, Resnik said, \u201cI think everybody knows that it\u2019s just a hard sport. No matter what, if you\u2019re showing up every day, everyone knows you\u2019re putting in that hard-ass work.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As mentioned, the indoor track season starts Dec. 4 and will run through Feb. 18 with the GNAC Indoor Championships in Spokane. From there, the team and individuals can qualify for nationals, which for indoor track will be held in Indianapolis, March 13 and 14. After that, the team jumps right into the outdoor season and April 10 and 11, students can mark their calendars for John Knight Twilight Night hosted on the track at McArthur Field. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just think it\u2019s really fun,\u201d Potratz said. \u201cSome of the distance events are twilight, so you\u2019re racing under the lights, which is such a cool vibe and experience. And yeah, it\u2019s really fun when there\u2019s a ton of people there cheering for you and your school.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seman added, \u201cI think a lot of families show up at this meet. They can\u2019t show up to out-of-state meets, most of them at least, and I think it\u2019s fun to have your family here watching you race.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The outdoor season will conclude with the GNAC Multis Championship April 27 and 28, the GNAC Outdoor Championships May 4 and 5 and the NCAA Outdoor Nationals in Emporia, Kansas, from May 21 through May 23. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just our distance team. Our sprints team, multis team, throws team, everything,\u201d Resnik continued, saying, \u201cWe\u2019re looking pretty good this year. Hopefully, we can bring home a team title, so if you can come out, for sure come out.\u201d As discussed earlier, coach Zach Holloway became the interim head track and field coach over the summer, and it\u2019ll be exciting to see how the team does with him at the helm for both the indoor and outdoor seasons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information about the cross-country and track and field teams, such as upcoming events and results, students can go to wouwolves.com<\/a> and find information there or follow them on Instagram @wou_xctf. Make sure to keep an eye on both teams for their upcoming seasons and see how the team continues to improve and set new highs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contact the author at howlsports@wou.edu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Nov. 8, the Wolves concluded their 2025 cross-country season with the NCAA West Regionals held right here in Monmouth, where the men\u2019s team finished eighth and the women\u2019s team finished 17th. Matthew Resnik and Remedan Seman from the men\u2019s team and Kyla Potratz from the women\u2019s team had All-Region performances, with Resnik finishing 21st […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1645,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"Cross-country season recap","_seopress_titles_desc":"A recap of the Wolves\u2019 cross-country season and a look ahead","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"modified_by":"saragerrick","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1645"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24136"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24141,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24136\/revisions\/24141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}