Cross country headed to Lewiston for local Inland Empire Challenge

PULLMAN, Wash. -- Washington State men's and women's cross country teams travel to Lewiston this week for Inland Empire Challenge on Saturday, October 8, at LCSC Cross Country Trail in Lewiston, Idaho.  The Cougars had five men make their collegiate 8k debuts last month at the Bill Dellinger Invitational while Alaina Stone-Boggs (20:07.3) and Caroline Jerotich (20:09.4) dropped their personal-best 6k times.
 
The women's 5k race is scheduled for Friday morning at 10:30 a.m. and the men's 8k race is set to begin at 11:30 a.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT:
Both teams saw multiple runners finish in the top-five at the Bill Dellinger Invitational.  The Cougar women found success in the 6K race and claimed three of the top fifteen spots as Alaina Stone-Boggs (20:07.3), Caroline Jerotich (20:09.4), Neema Kimtai (20:42.6.) took fifth, sixth, and fifteen respectively. Alaina Stone-Boggs set a 6k personal best time by 25 seconds. Caroline Jerotich improved her 6k time by 46 seconds. Pietra Da Silva (21:20.3) secured a personal best 6k time by almost two minutes.
 
On the men's side, sophomore Brian Barsaiya (23:46.0) lead the pack for Cougars taking third place. Kelvin Limo (24:23.5) and Leif Swanson (24:26.6) both finished in the top 30, taking 25th and 27th respectively in the 8k race.  The Cougars had five freshmen make their WSU 8k debut on the men's side.
 
2021 INLAND EMPIRE CHALLENGE RECAP:
On the men's side, Evan Gonzales is the top returning runner who competed in the 2021 Inland Empire Challenge. Gonzales ran an 8k time of 26:32 with a mile split of 5:21. Cooper Cortinas and Jacob Easton followed behind Gonzales.
 
For the women, Maya Nichols is the only returning runner who competed in the 2021 Inland Empire Challenge. Nichols finished 34th with a time of 18:40. The men's team scored 200 points as team to finish seventh out of 16 teams. The women's team had only two entries so the Cougars were unable to post a score as a team.
 
IN THE RANKINGS:
The women's and men's teams have remained steady in the rankings. The women are still sitting 11th in this week's West Region rankings.  Washington State's men stayed at No. 12.
 
Stone Boggs (No. 67) and Jerotich (No. 73) each remain in the top-100 of the FloTrack NCAA Division I individual cross country rankings. The women's team made its first appearance in the NCAA top-25 at No. 19 in September's FloTrack team rankings (Sept. 26).

UP NEXT:    
Washington State will split the squads up next week. The Cougars will compete in the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational on October 14th and the NCAA Pre-Nationals on October 15th.
 
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