THURSDAY'S SCOREBOARD: Volleyball – Cal State East Bay at Alaska Fairbanks; Willamette at Western Oregon; Cal Poly Pomona/CSLA Invitational (Simon Fraser at Cal Poly Pomona, 7 p.m.); Hawaiian Style Classic at Hilo (MSU Billings vs. Western New Mexico, 5:15 p.m.; Saint Martin's vs. Hawaii Hilo, 7:30 p.m.). Cross Country – Alaska Fairbanks Long-Course Dual (SPU, NNU, UAF). Men's Soccer – Chaminade vs. Northwest Nazarene (at Waipio), noon; Victoria at Simon Fraser, 2 p.m.; Western Washington at Chico State, 7:30 p.m.; CSU San Bernardino vs. Saint Martin's, 8 p.m. (at Phoenix). Women's Soccer – College of Idaho at Northwest Nazarene, 4 p.m.; Western Oregon at Sonoma State, 4 p.m.; Western Washington at Chico State, 5 p.m.; Thompson River at Simon Fraser, 7 p.m.

Wednesday, Sept. 1

Cross Country: Most Teams Begin Season This Week

Porter

The 2010 cross country season begins for seven of the 10 Great Northwest Athletic Conference teams this week in meets at Fairbanks, Billings, Bellingham and Honolulu.

Western Washington, which is the defending GNAC men's champion, opens its season at home in the Lake Padden Relays. Western Oregon and a partial team from Seattle Pacific will also compete.

The Falcons will also send athletes to Fairbanks to compete in a pair of meets on Thursday and Saturday along with Northwest Nazarene and host Alaska Fairbanks.

Alaska Anchorage, which is the defending GNAC women's and NCAA West Region team champion, is in Hawaii this weekend to compete Saturday in the Hawaii Pacific Invitational. Meanwhile, Montana State Billings makes its debut at home in the MSUB Open.

Central Washington begins its season Sept. 11 in the CWU Appleridge Invitational in Yakima, while Saint Martin's and Simon Fraser don't make their debuts until Sept. 18 at the UW Sundodger at Lincoln Park in Seattle.

Six GNAC teams are ranked nationally in the USTFCCCA pre-season national poll, including three in the Top 10.

Western Washington's men, which returns three All-Americans from a team that placed fourth in the 2009 NCAA national meet, is ranked sixth. Alaska Anchorage, which placed 17th at nationals last fall, is ranked 16th and Western Oregon is ranked 20th.

On the women's side, Alaska Anchorage is ranked third, Western Washington is ranked seventh and Seattle Pacific is ranked 14th .

The Falcons finished fourth in last year's national meet, but graduated five of their top six runners including three-time national champion Jessica Pixler. UAA and WWU placed fifth and eighth last season in the national meet.

Nine of the Top 10 finishers from last year's men's conference meet return for another season including champion Marko Cheseto (Sr., Kapenguria, Kenya – Chewoyet) of Alaska Anchorage.

Also back from the Top 10 are Bennett Grimes (2nd , Sr., Pocatello, ID – Century), Jordan Welling (3rd, Sr., Burlington, WA – Burlington-Edison) and Blake Medhaug (9th, Sr., Bothell, WA), all from Western Washington; Cheseto, Alfred Kangogo (4th, Jr., Eldoret, Kenya – Kitale Boys) and Micah Chelimo (5th, So., Kapkoi, Kenya - Tambach), all from UAA; Chris Reed of Western Oregon (7th, Sr., Klamath Falls, OR); Kyle Van Santen of Saint Martin's (8th, Jr., Lake Stevens, WA) and Barak Watson of Northwest Nazarene (10th , So., Nampa, ID – Columbia).

Cheseto, Grimes, Welling, Medhaug, Chelimo, Reed and Watson are all former All-Americans.

Cheseto earned All-American honors in 2008 when he placed ninth before finishing 42nd last fall. Grimes, who placed 56th at the 2009 national meet, earned All-American honors in 2007 and 2008 with 43rd and 41st finishes, respectively.

Medhaug was also a 2008 All-American finishing 36th He ended up 61st last fall. Welling, Reed, Watson and Chelimo all earned All-America honors in 2009 placing 13th, 35th, 38th and 40th, respectively. Welling also was an All-American in 2008 placing 29th .

In addition to Cheseto and Chelimo, UAA also returns 2008 All-American Jake Parisien (So., Palmer, AK), who redshirted last season after finishing second in the conference meet and 17th in the national meet two years.

On the women's side, four All-Americans and seven of the Top 10 finishers in last year's conference meet return. Gone, however, is Pixler.

That should make Sarah Porter (Sr., Hockinson, WA) of Western Washington the early favorite to win the conference and perhaps the regional and national titles as well. She finished second in all three races last fall.

Also back are All-Americans Lauren Breihof (Jr., Vancouver, WA – Mountain View) of Western Washington and Miriam Kipng'eno (So.., Eldoret, Kenya) and Ruth Keino (Jr., Kapcheno, Kenya - Aldai) of Alaska Anchorage

Breihof finished 31st at last year's national meet after placing ninth in the GNAC championships. Kipng'eno and Keino were 14th and 39th in the national meet and third and fifth in the conference meet.

Also returning from the Top 10 in the 2009 GNAC meet are UAA's Shoshana Keegan (4th, Jr., Anchorage, AK – Steller) and Hallidie Wilt (6th, Sr., Unalaska, AK) and Jaclyn Puga of Northwest Nazarene (10th, Sr., Meridian, ID – Nampa Christian).

With the loss of Pixler, Seattle Pacific's top returning finisher is Natty Plunkett (Jr., Bellevue, WA – Newport) who placed 11th .

Monday, Aug. 30

Academic: Charles, Pixler Win CCA Regional Awards

Pixler	Charles

Jessica Pixler of Seattle Pacific and Sam Charles of Montana State Billings are the 2009-10 NCAA Division II West Region Scholar-Athletes of the Year as selected by the Conference Commissioners Association (CCA).

The two now are among eight finalists for the national award, which will be announced in September.

Previous GNAC winners of the men's regional award included Tony Binetti of Seattle Pacific (2006), Adam Jensen of Seattle University (2007) and Keith Lemay of Western Washington (2008).

Nichole Sauvageau of Seattle University (2003), Ana Gurierrez of Seattle (2007) and Ashley Puga of Northwest Nazarene (2009) previously won the women's regional award.

For more information on the two winners, click here.

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