College roundup: Roberts, Cougars dominate field

The Washington State women’s cross country team ran away from the field Saturday to win the Runners Soul/Erik Anderson Cross Country Invitational at Plantes Ferry Park in Spokane.

The race was held at the site of the upcoming NCAA Division II National and West Regional meets.

WSU had a team score of 21, well ahead of second-place Gonzaga (114).

WSU’s Ruby Roberts finished first, completing the 6,000-meter course in 20 minutes, 53 seconds. Roberts’ teammate, Caroline Austin, was second in 21:08. Also finishing inside the top 10 for WSU were Sarah Bobbe (fifth, 21:42), Emily Farrar (sixth, 21:52) and Katie Fleischer (seventh, 21:54).

Gonzaga was led by Lindsay Drake’s third-place finish (21:17).

Idaho was fourth, Whitworth was 16th and Eastern Washington 20th.

In the men’s division, Gonzaga finished second behind Colorado School of Mines.

The Bulldogs’ best finisher, Nate Gesell, finished the 8,000-meter course in 24:50, good enough for ninth place.

Whitworth finished 10th, Idaho came in 11th and Community Colleges of Spokane took 19th.

Volleyball

• Gonzaga won the first set and then fell flat in a 22-25, 25-16, 25-16, 25-18 loss to No. 19 Pepperdine in a West Coast Conference match at the Martin Centre in Spokane.

Laura Day and Kaprina Goodwin each tallied eight kills for the Bulldogs, who lost their third straight match and fell to 6-7 overall and 0-2 in conference play. The Waves improved to 8-5 and 2-0.

Gonzaga will take on conference foe San Francisco at 6 p.m. Thursday in Spokane.

• Alicia Milo had nine kills, Jenny Feicht had 37 assists, six digs and three blocks, and Cassie Hamilton had 20 digs as Idaho swept San Jose State (5-9, 0-2) 25-7, 25-19, 25-18 in a Western Athletic Conference match in Moscow, Idaho.

The Vandals (6-8, 1-1) will play at New Mexico State on Thursday.

• The Whitworth volleyball team’s seventh straight win wasn’t exactly a nail-biter.

Kaimi Rocha had 13 kills and Amanda Grumbach added 10 as the Pirates thundered Willamette 25-11, 25-19, 25-12 in a Northwest Conference match in Salem, Ore.

Whitworth is 4-0 in NWC, 9-4 overall. The Pirates will look for their eighth straight victory Friday at home against Puget Sound.

Women’s soccer

Defending Northwest Conference champion Puget Sound (4-2, 2-1) scored twice in the first half and coasted to a 3-0 shutout of Whitworth at Whitworth Soccer Field in Spokane.

The Pirates’ Mackenzie Grow recorded four shots.

Whitworth (1-4-1, 1-2-1) will host conference foe Pacific Lutheran at noon today.

• Nikki Caudill broke up a scoreless tie with a goal in the 84th minute and Community Colleges of Spokane shut out Clackamas 1-0 in a NWAACC Conference match at SFCC.

Caudill’s goal was assisted by Dee Dee Garbe.

CCS, which improved to 7-0 overall and 3-0 in conference matches, will play at North Idaho at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Men’s soccer

Whitworth scored two late goals and beat Puget Sound 3-0 at Whitworth Soccer Field in Spokane in a battle of unbeaten Northwest Conference teams.

J.T. Meyer opened the scoring with an unassisted goal in the 35th minute.

Pirates Nate Spangler and Sam Selisch put the match away with late goals.

Whitworth improved to 5-1-1 overall and took over sole possession of first place in the NWC at 3-0. UPS fell to 3-3 and 2-1.

The Pirates will host NWC foe Pacific Lutheran at 2:30 p.m. today.

• Zach Allert had a goal and an assist to guide Community Colleges of Spokane to a 2-0 NWAACC Conference win over Pierce at SFCC.

Matt Harper opened the scoring with a goal assisted by fellow University High School graduate Allert in the 25th minute. Allert scored in the 60th minute to cap the scoring.

With the win, CCS improved to 2-3-4 overall and 2-0-2 in conference play.

The Sasquatch will play at North Idaho College at 4 p.m. Thursday.

Rowing

The Washington State women’s rowing team beat Gonzaga in both the varsity 8 and varsity 4 flights at the Head of the Pend Oreille in Priest River.