Alaska Anchorage won the women's title for the third straight year, but was unable to accomplish the same feat in the men's race, finishing second just three points behind Victoria BC, at the 39th annual Western Washington University Invitational Cross Country Classic held Saturday, Oct. 6, at Lake Padden Park.

The Seawolves took the women's crown with 41 points to 57 for runner-up British Columbia. Simon Fraser was third (85) and Victoria fourth (90).

Victoria won the men's division with 37 points to 40 for Alaska Anchorage, the two-time defending champion.

Host WWU placed third (80) in the men's race and fifth (152) in the women's competition. The field was one of the largest in meet history with 300 competitors, 178 men and 122 women.

"This was an excellent competition for us," WWU coach Pee Wee Halsell said in a news release. "It's one of the best meets we've had here in a long time."

Two Alaska Anchorage runners were the individual champions.

Micah Chelimo won the men's title for the second straight year, completing the 10-kilometer course in 31:12. That was five seconds better than runner-up Paul Limpf of Club Northwest.

Susan Tanui dominated the six-kilometer women's run with a 21:31 clocking. Eleven seconds separated her from second-place Alison Jackson of Trinity Western.

Dak Riek led the WWU men, placing 10th in 31:41. Chip Jackson finished 13th in 31:42, Tyler Cannon, 21st in 32:10; Kyle Johnson, 29th in 32:32; Tabor Reedy, 30th in 32:32; Zachary Bursell, 31st in 32:33; and Tanner Boyd 37th in 32:37.

"The men ran a very solid race with a lot of people moving up," Halsell said. The Vikings were just four seconds off of having eight runners ahead of their No. 3 runner at last year's invitational.

Pacing the WWU women for the first time this season was Austen Reiter, who finished 16th in 22:48. Katelyn Steen, who had been ill all week, was 33rd in 23:17.

Completing the Viking scorers were Taylor Guenther, 37th in 23:29; Arielle Walton, 43rd in 23:50; Maddie McGee, 45th in 23:54; Haida Ikeda, 53rd in 24:28; and Haley O'Connor, 55th in 24:31.