Area roundup: Area athletes have strong showing at NCAA cross country meet

Junior Nick Hauger (Shadle Park) finished in 26th place Saturday to help the Portland men to a program-best, second-place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Louisville, Kentucky.

Hauger completed the 10,000-meter course in 29 minutes, 46.69 seconds to help the Pilots toward 127 points.

Washington State’s men placed 24th with 539 points. Junior Chandler Teigen led the Cougars, placing 63rd in 30:20.49.

WSU junior Vallery Korir placed 33rd in the women’s race, completing 6,000 meters in 20:07.92.

Northern Arizona, with the second- and third-place finishers, repeated as men’s winner with 74 points. Syracuse senior Justyn Knight was the individual winner in 29:00.11.

Other area men’s finishers: Tanner Anderson, Oregon (North Central), 41st, 30:01.34; Andrew Gardner, Washington (Mead), 66th, 30:23.04; and Justin Janke, Washington State (NC), 206th, 31:43.00.

Women’s champion Ednah Kurgat (19:19.42) led New Mexico (90 points) to the team title.

• Whitworth’s women finished in 13th place, the second-best finish in school history, at the NCAA Division III Championships in Elsah, Illinois. Kayla Leland led the Pirates, finishing the 6,000 in 21:12.80 for 19th place. She was the top finisher from the Northwest Conference and No. 3 from the West Region. Johns Hopkins won the team title and Khia Kurtenbach of Chicago won the individual title in 20:39.20.

Men’s basketball

Sam Lees scored a team-high 15 points off the bench, hitting 6 of 9 from the floor, and Whitworth improved to 3-0 with an 83-58 nonconference win over visiting Waynesburg.

Whitworth’s starters added balanced scoring: Kyle Roach, 14 points, Ben College, 11; and Jordan Lester and Jared Christy, 10 apiece.

Christy added seven rebounds and Roach six assists.

• RayQuan Evans scored 24 points, hitting 14 of 17 from the line, and added 10 rebounds and five assists as North Idaho (2-0) defeated visiting Northwest Wyoming 71-61 in nonconference play.

Women’s basketball

Dominique Golightly scored 22 points and Abilene Christian (3-0) overcame a 13-point deficit to defeat Idaho 82-72 in nonconference play in Abilene, Texas.

The Wildcats hit 9 of 13 field goals in the fourth quarter to outscore the Vandals 27-14. Mikayla Ferenz scored 27 points and Geraldine McCorkell added 24 for the Vandals (1-2), both season highs.

• Madison Moffat finished with 23 points and 13 rebounds while leading Whitworth (2-0) to a 95-73 win over La Verne (0-2) during the final day of the Ramada at Spokane Airport Whit Classic. Camy Aguinaldo added 17 points and 11 assists for the Pirates. Coming off the bench for Whitworth, Lexi Tinney scored 18 points and Chloe Quinnett added nine rebounds and three blocked shots.

Volleyball

Community Colleges of Spokane and North Idaho saw their seasons come to an end with losses at the Northwest Athletic Conference Championships in Tacoma.

Lower Columbia defeated CCS 25-16, 25-13, sparked by Nina Bailey’s six kills and .500 hitting percentage. Baylee Gorder had eight kills for the Sasquatch (35-11).

Averi Dyer’s eight kills and eight digs led Bellevue to a 25-18, 15-19 win over North Idaho. Kayla Neumann led the Cardinals (33-8) with 14 kills and six digs.

Bellevue (34-13) and Chemeketa (29-4) will play for the title on Sunday.

Wrestling

North Idaho (2-2) began the Cardinal Duals with a 40-9 win over Highline. NIC’s Levi Perry recorded a 13-5 major decision at 184 pounds and the Cardinals picked up five forfeits.