By: Evan O'Kelly, Associate Commissioner for Communications

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Putting an exclamation point on a historic career on Saturday morning at Arcade Creek Cross Country Course, Kendall Kramer of Alaska Fairbanks finished as the runner-up at the 2024 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships.
 
Kramer used a late kick to cross the finish line in second place with a time of 20:30.7 minutes on the 6k championship course. She led a group of five GNAC women’s runners who earned All-American status, three of which finished in the top-10. “I didn’t really know how it would go,” said Kramer, after her third-career cross country All-American finish. “Rosie (Fordham) and I both were pretty amazed and happy we could be in the top-10. I knew it would go fast, and Rosie always starts faster than me. I felt like it happened in front of me, and it just felt like I ran through what was happening. I’m grateful for Rosie for starting out fast and potentially tiring them out and making bold moves. It was awesome to see her in front of me and I wasn’t alone at all.”
 
Kramer crossed the line just over two seconds behind Lauren Kiley of Grand Valley State, who won the national title with a time of 20:28.5. “Rosie and I have been having an awesome season, and it’s hard finding the words because it’s so amazing we’ve gotten to this point,” Kramer said on the meaning of her national runner-up finish. “It seemed so out of reach, especially for our school. It’s so awesome to be taken so seriously and to show what we are capable of even though we have less than ideal training conditions; we have been indoors for two months. It gives a lot of faith to our team and I knew I was capable of this, but was going to be happy with however it played out.”
 
Seattle Pacific senior Annika Esvelt crossed the line in fourth place with a time of 20:34.5 and the Nanooks’ Rosie Fordham finished eighth in 20:43.7. Western Washington’s Ashley Reeck took 33rd place in 21:22.1 and Rachael Watkins of Simon Fraser followed in 35th place in 21:23.6 to each also earn All-America. "It was just really fun," said Esvelt, the 2023-24 GNAC Female Scholar Athlete of the Year. "I started out a lot slower purposely than in regionals that’s exactly what I wanted to do. I wasn’t totalliy gassed, and that was super encouraging. It almost makes you wonder could I have gotten that last half second or so and caught those girls. It always feels like that when you’re done, but in the moment it was really tough. I’m super happy and super excited. I just wanted top-40 or PR and got those so I’m super thrilled with it."

The Western Washington women finished in 11th place among the field of 30 teams competing, totaling 384 points and placing all five of their scoring runners in the top-100 among the field of 261. The Alaska women, competing in their second national meet as a team and first since 2011, finished in 13th place with a score of 394.
 
Fordham made it back-to-back All-America performances, after she took 36th place last season. It was her third overall national appearance, as she took 43rd as a sophomore in 2022. “Definitely not,” Fordham said when asked if a top-10 finish was where her cross country career would culminate. “Freshman year I was 61st, and thought it would be great to be an All-American. This was a big jump from last year. I had a little hope of aiming to be in the top-10. It took everything I had and I’m super stoked to be a top-10 national finisher.”
 
On the men’s side, Central Washington’s Johan Correa was the lone All-American from the GNAC, finishing in 36th place. The Western Washington men’s team placed 13th among 34 teams with 379 points.
 
WOMEN’S 6K CHAMPIONSHIP RACE
Conditions: 50° F | Light showers | Golf course (grass)
 
Fordham raced out to an early lead, setting pace with the front pack to establish the tempo. She kept her nose towards the front throughout and used a strong finishing kick to cross the line among the leaders. “I always just get out and see how the race develops,” said Fordham, who won the NCAA West Region Championships two weeks ago with a GNAC meet-record time of 19:52.68. “I like to sit in second, and that’s what I did for the first 3k. I didn’t really think I could be at the front of a national field until I was there. It was lots of fun. About 4k in it started to slow, and I took the lead. The footing was pretty bad around the corners and it was pretty muddy with a few puddles. We run on snow and grass that gets wet, so we were used to it. It was a true cross country race – I am totally covered in mud. I don’t think we’ve had that this season yet with the fine weather we’ve had in the Pacific Northwest.”
 
Kramer never lost sight of her teammate, holding strong and putting together a late push to cross the line in second. Kramer’s eighth-place finish at the 2022 NCAA Championships had been the best-ever by a Nanook woman, and she was the GNAC’s top finisher last year in 23rd place. “We prepared really well,” said the senior from Fairbanks. “Going into this I rested really well and I was feeling top notch. Once the end gets near, my mind says to just go for it. The end was getting closer and my motivation was getting stronger.”
 
Esvelt, competing in her first cross country national meet, was among the early pace-setters and kept with Fordham for the duration. Her fourth-place finish was the best by a Falcon since Jessica Pixler won three straight national titles from 2007-09. “It was really cool when I saw (Annika) move up near the last half of the race,” Kramer said on her fellow GNAC competitor. “It gives you faith with knowing how you have stacked up against them before. If she’s having a good race, then I know I can as well. It is awesome to know the caliber of runners in our division.”
 
Reeck paced the Viking women, who improved upon last year’s 14th-place team finish. It was WWU’s best women’s team finish at the national meet since taking sixth in 2015. It was the squad’s 11th overall national championship team appearance since the GNAC was founded in 2001.
 
WWU’s Sophie Wright crossed the finish line in 89th place with a time of 22:03.8, and Ila Davis was also in the top-100 with a time of 22:07.5 to finish 95th. WWU relied on points from Danielle McLain, in 113th with a time of 22:17.6 and Ella Edens, in 114th with a time of 22:17.8, to contribute to its team score. Also competing for the Vikings were Emma Smith, who finished 122nd in 22:20.9, and Mia Crocker, who was 125th in 22:21.9.
 
Simon Fraser’s Watkins kept her nose among the upper portion of runners throughout the race as well, earning her first cross country All-American honor. The junior, who was coming off a 10th-place finish at the NCAA West Region Championships, moved up six spots from last year’s 41st-place finish at nationals.
 
Contributing to the Nanooks’ team finish were a quartet of other runners competing at the national meet for the first time. Sophomore Tabitha Williams finished 112th in 22:26.8, freshman Lucca Duke was 125th in 22:35.4, junior Teegan Silva was 148th in 22:55.9 and freshman Hazel Probst took 225th in 25:12.7.
 
MEN’S 10K CHAMPIONSHIP RACE
Conditions: 49° F | Light showers | Golf course (grass)
 
For the second year in a row, Central Washington’s Correa was the GNAC’s top finisher, earning All-America status by taking 36th place among a field of 262 runners who started the race. Correa, who finished 17th at his first NCAA Championships in 2023, clocked a time of 30:28.4 minutes on the soggy course. Teammate Ramon Rodriguez, the 2024 GNAC Newcomer of the Year, also represented the Wildcats on Saturday with a time of 31:07.0 to finish in 77th place.
 
Western Washington finished in 13th place among the field of 34 teams competing, totaling 379 points to improve upon last year’s 16th-place national finish. It was the Vikings’ highest team finish at the national meet since placing 13th at the 2015 championships. Since the GNAC was founded in 2001, Saturday marked the 14th time that the Vikings have represented the conference as a team at the national meet.
 
GNAC champion Jeret Gillingham was the top finisher for the Vikings, crossing the line with a time of 30:41.2 to take 48th place. Jared Alderfer followed in 75th place with a time of 31:04.3, and Kevin McDermott also finished in the top-100 with a time of 31:18.4 to place 95th. The other Vikings who scored on Saturday were George Karamitsos, in 110th place with a time of 31:26.7, and GNAC Freshman of the Year Jonah Billings, in 119th place with a time of 31:29.8.
 
Rounding out the field of competitors for the Vikings was Sten Brakstad in 149th place at 31:50.7, and Ryan Clough in 236th place at 33:30.3.
 
Alaska Anchorage was represented at the national championships by junior John Peckham, who finished in 91st place with a time of 31:15.5. That was an improvement of more than 100 places from his 198th-place finish at last year’s national meet, where he clocked a time of 32:11.3.
 
Colorado School of Mines claimed the men’s team title with 63 points, edging 2023 national champion Wingate by three points.