Women’s Cross Country

Central’s women’s cross country team had two runners finish in the top-seven, leading to a third place team finish at the GNAC championship in Bellingham, Wash. on Saturday, Oct. 24.

The University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) won the event, with the top-two finishers in the race.

Senior Dani Eggleston was Central’s top performer, finishing fifth with a time of 21:58.60 in the 6k race, followed by senior Megan Rogers just under eight seconds later, which placed her seventh.

The top 10 finishes earned both Eggleston and Rogers All-Conference honors.

Freshmen Alex Shindruk also had a strong showing, finishing 11th with a time of 22:37.00.

Men’s Cross Country

The men’s team didn’t fair as well, finishing sixth in the 11-team race.

UAA dominated the event with the three best individual times, leading to a championship in both races.

Sophomore Alex Martinez was the team’s top-finisher, placing 26th with a time of 26:32.20 in the 8k event.

No other runners finished in the top 30 for Central.

Football

Central’s depleted backfield couldn’t get anything going on the ground in 42-17 loss to Humboldt State University (HSU) at homecoming.

Central was out-rushed 235-48 by HSU’s rushing attack headed by Ja’Quan Gardner, second in NCAA Division II in rushing yards, with running back Jordan Todd out for the season with a broken leg and fellow running back Arthur Burns recently dismissed from the team.

The Wildcats fell behind early and were never able to catch the HSU Jacks.

Quarterback Justin Lane hit wide receiver Jesse Zalk for a 61-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter giving Central a glimmer of hope, and making the score 21-10.

A late second half touchdown by HSU, with under a minute to go in the quarter, quickly dampened that hope.

Lane went over 300 yards passing for the second straight week, but was sacked seven times as Central played catch-up most of the game.

Central’s pass-rush wasn’t able to muster up a sack on 22 pass attempts from HSU.

Zalk was able to extend his GNAC leading receiving yard total to 631 yards after his fourth straight game with at least 100 receiving yard and one touchdown.  He also took over the conference lead in all-purpose yards, passing HSU’s Gardner.

Central dropped to 1-3 in conference play on the season.

The team will have a bye week before their next game on Saturday, Nov. 6 at Simon Fraser University (SFU).

Soccer

It was a big weekend offensively for Central’s women’s soccer team, who kept their GNAC tournament hopes alive with a 5-2 victory over Simon Fraser University and a 1-1 tie with Seattle Pacific University. The Wildcats were boosted to 4-5-1 in conference play.

Senior Reilly Retz scored in both games and the Wildcats moved to second overall in the GNAC in goals.

Central’s five-goal performance is their second highest total for a game this season. All five goals were scored by different players.

The team finishes the season with their GNAC tournament hopes on the line with games against Concordia University (CU) at home on Oct. 29 and Montana State University Billings on the road on Oct. 31.

Volleyball

An upset win over Western Washington University (WWU) on the road Saturday, Oct. 24 catapulted Central into a four-way tie for first place in the GNAC.

Central opened the week two games behind WWU, with a make or break match against the Vikings looming on Saturday.

The Wildcats took care of SFU 3-2 on Thursday, Oct. 22, giving them an opportunity to reel WWU in their following game.

The Wildcats escaped with their first victory in Bellingham since 2005, putting them in the driver’s seat just past the midpoint of the conference schedule.

Central earned the 25th spot in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 25 poll.

With an NCAA Division II West Regional spot in sight, Central looks to stay on top of the GNAC, hosting CU on Thursday, Oct. 29 and Western Oregon University on Saturday, Oct. 31. Both games start at 7 p.m.