Fifth year senior Johan Correa and junior Ramon Rodriguez had big time performances in the Division 2 West Region cross country meet this Saturday in Billings, MT. Correa placed 6th and Rodriguez placed 5th among 156 of the west region’s best cross country runners. 

Their efforts earned 11 team points, contributing to a final team score of 227 points. This score placed CWU men’s cross country at 8th in the west region out of 22 schools– the highest place earned since 2007. 

While Correa and Rodriguez were the first of the GNAC runners to cross the finish line, other GNAC teams saw success as well. Western Washington University took home second place with a team score of 54, with four runners in the top 20. Northwest Nazarene University edged out CWU for seventh place by four points with a team score of 223. 

Correa and Rodrigiez crossed the finish line neck and neck. Rodrigiez ended with a time of 30:35.50, while Correa ended at 30:35.60. Meanwhile, all of the top six runners finished the race within 10 seconds of each other, making for an extremely competitive lead pack of runners. 

To earn these times, Rodroguez and Correa both had to run incredibly fast. Over the course of 10 kilometers, Rodriguez maintained an average pace of four minutes and 55.4 seconds per mile. Correa maintained an average pace of four minutes and 55.41 seconds per mile. 

Although cross country races are run individually, the sport is still scored as a team. Part of CWU cross country’s success is that their culture reflects that. “Our guys are selfless and close as a group, they perform their best when others are counting on them,” Johnathan Hill, head coach, said. 

Each runner has a responsibility to maintain a high work ethic throughout a long cross country season. “When motivation wanes, we try to find people with discipline to continue to carry on with this even when it’s not fun or convenient,” Hill said.