BILLINGS, Mont. – The Western Washington University men’s and women’s Cross Country teams both placed 5th at the NCAA Division II West Regional meet held Saturday in sub-freezing temperatures at Amend Park.

Both performances give the Vikings a solid shot at receiving one of the 10 at-large berths to the NCAA Division II Championships that will feature a 34-team field at the national meet as part of the DII Festival on Saturday, December 1 at Schenley Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

“I am very proud of how both teams raced today and how they left it all out on the course…they are spent right now,” said WWU head coach Pee Wee Halsell. “Both teams stepped up and really gave a great performance in less-than-ideal conditions. We battled on both sides and just had a really great team effort today.”

The 34-team field for the NCAA Division II Championships will be announced on NCAA.com no later than 2 pm PT on Monday.

“I feel like we’ve had a great season running in a very tough region, and done everything we can to make a case for both teams going to nationals,” added Halsell.

The NCAA II West Regional meet was hosted by Montana State Billings at Amend Park. Chico State won the men’s 10K race and Alaska Anchorage was the winner of the women’s 6K race.

MEN’S WEST REGIONAL

The WWU men placed 5th out of 24 scoring teams for the highest regional finish since placing 4th in back-to-back seasons in 2013-14. The Vikings scored 159 points to finish well-ahead of sixth-place Western Oregon (182 points). Chico State won the team title with all five scoring runners placing in the top 14, and all seven participating runners earning All-West Region honors for top 25 finishes. Simon Fraser (63 points), Alaska Anchorage (116 points) and Cal Poly Pomona (146 points) finished ahead of the Vikings.

Senior Jadon Olson (Mill Creek, WA/Jackson) led the Vikings with a 20th-place finish, completing the 10-kilometer course in 31:40.63. Sophomore Eric Hamel (Enumclaw, WA) was right behind Olson in 22nd place finishing in 31:42.83. Both runners earned All-West Region honors.

“I thought the men’s team did exactly what they’ve been doing all season, working together, pushing each other, and again ran a fantastic race that produced great results,” said Halsell. “Very proud of Jadon and Eric for earning all-region, but it was a team effort and one through seven they were strong and gritty.”