Oct. 22, 2007

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Western Washington University had five runners, all freshmen, earn Great Northwest Athletic Conference all-star honors by placing among the top 10 at the seventh annual GNAC Cross Country Championships last Saturday at Boise, Id.

Four of the quintet helped the Vikings to their second straight men's conference title and third in the last five years. They were Daniel Phillips (R-Fr., Olympia), second; Bennett Grimes (R-Fr., Pocatello, ID/Century), third; Blake Medhaug (R-Fr., Bothell), eighth, and Jordan Welling (Fr., Burlington/Burlington-Edison), a transfer from Northern Arizona.

Phillips was named GNAC Male Freshman of the Year. The league's Female Freshman of the Year honor went to Western's Sarah Porter (Fr., Hockinson), who placed ninth for the seventh-place Vikings.

In the previous six conference meets, just six freshmen men had received all-star honors, three of them representing Western. That gives the Vikings seven of the GNAC's 10 frosh all-stars.

Seattle Pacific sophomore Jessica Pixler and Saint Martin's junior John Riak finished first in the GNAC meet in their respective divisions to win GNAC Athlete of the Year honors.

Pixler's 6-kilometer time of 20:53.48 was the quickest in meet history, eclipsing her winning time of 21:11 last year. She is the second woman to win two conference titles, joining Western's Ashlee Vincent, who took championships honors in 2001 and 2002 before transferring to University of Portland for academic reasons.

Riak is the seventh different male, all from different schools, to win the men's conference title. It was his 11th overall individual title, the most in GNAC history.

Taking GNAC Newcomer of the Year honors were Alaska Anchorage's Peter Doner, who placed seventh in the men's race, and Western Oregon's Jessica Harper, who finished 12th in the women's run.

The Western men, ranked No.11 nationally in the latest United States Cross Country Coaches Association Top 25, easily won the GNAC title by 32 points over second-place Western Oregon in the nine-team field. The Vikings were without Anthony Tomsich (Jr., Fairbanks/West Valley), who finished third last year but sat out Saturday to rest a sore achilles' tendon.

Seattle Pacific, rated seventh nationally, won the women's title for the third straight time with a 75-point bulge over runner-up Western Oregon.

Western returns to Idaho on Nov. 3 for the NCAA Division II West Regional at Eagle Island Park in Boise.