In the final meet of the season, the Trojan's Men's and Women's Cross Country teams were ready to compete at the NWAC Championship meet on a course that they had seen earlier this season. This year marked the 3rd straight year that the NWAC Championship meet was hosted on the campus of St. Martin's University in Lacey, WA.
The men's 8k was the first race of the day, featuring 72 runners from 10 competing NWAC schools. The 11:00am start provided just enough time for the fog to begin to lift on a clear and crisp November morning.
For much of the race, it was Spokane and Lane CC who led the pack, and it would be Lane Sophomore Andy Muha that would win the race for the second straight year with a time of 25:28 beating his time last year by 45 seconds.
Freshman Tim Mandzyuk finished first for the Trojans at 19th overall with a time of 27:41. He was followed closely by sophomore teammate Galmo Said who finished 22nd overall with a time of 27:49. Nathan McGinty (28:24), Isaiah Funston (29:37), and Isaac O'Connell (30:43) finished 29th, 47th and 55th respectively. EvCC went on to finish 6th overall as a team, just 7 points behind 5th place Mt. Hood. Lane went on to win their 3rd straight men's cross country championship in a close race with Spokane who finished two points behind for second place.
The Trojans last won the men's championship in 2013, the only team to win the championship outside of Lane and Spokane since Clackamas CC did it back in 2000.
The women's 5k followed with Spokane as the heavy favorite to win. Sixty-Eight runners entered the race with nine competing NWAC schools. Much anticipation was built as to whether or not Treasure Valley's Delia Deleon could defend her NWAC championship from Spokane sophomore Micaela Kostecka whom she had beaten in last year's championship by 12 seconds.
2018 would prove to be Spokane's year as Kostecka would go on to claim first place, ironically 12 seconds faster than Deleon who finished second, and all 8 Spokane runners would go on to finish in the top 20.
Everett's Ellee London set a PR with her performance of 20:01, finishing first for the Trojans and 8th place overall (one place away from All-American honors). Sophomore Andrea Padilla was not far behind at 20:20 for 13th overall, and the other three that rounded out the team scoring for the Trojans were Kaitlin Morgan (21:12), Sandra Hart (21:41), and Maylynn Cendejas (21:53) finishing 21st, 29th and 31st respectively. As a team the Trojans placed 4th, 27 points behind Treasure Valley CC.
Everett women's xc were runners up in 2016 and 2013 and last won the championship in 2012. Returners for next season will look to build on this year's momentum to compete for a title next season.
