Vandals women take home WAC championship

The University of Idaho Vandals women placed four runners in the top 10 and won the Western Athletic Conference cross country championship on Saturday in Logan, Utah.

Mandy Macalister led the way for Idaho with a third-place finish in 17 minutes, 10.92 seconds over the 5,000-meter course. Also in the top 10 for the Vandals: Dee Olson (fifth, 17:13.61), Melissa McFaddan (seventh, 17:19.39) and Allix Lee-Painter (ninth, 17:26.67).

Boise State’s Breanna Sande, a Lake City High graduate, won the race in 17:01.32. Idaho outdistanced runner-up Nevada 39-65.

UI’s Diego Moreno Guzman placed second in 23:31.09 over 8,000 to lead the Vandals men to a second-place showing.

Utah State, led by winner Seth Wold (23:16.63), won the team title 21-65 over Idaho.

Idaho coach Wayne Phipps won women’s coach of the year honors for the second time.

“The Oregon men and Stanford women won team titles at the Pacific-10 Conference Championships in Corvallis, Ore.

Oregon’s Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott won the 8K men’s race in 22:54.9, while Stanford’s Arianna Lambie topped the women’s 6K race in 19:40.7.

Andrew Jones (23rd, 23:42.4) led the Washington State men to a seventh-place finish, while Isley Gonzalez (20:26.6) placed eighth for the fifth-place WSU women.

The Washington Huskies men finished sixth and the women were third.

“The Eastern Washington Eagles women finished a school-best fourth and the men placed seventh at the Big Sky Conference Championships in Missoula.

Mattie Bridgmon topped the Eagles women with a fifth-place finish in 17:58.6 over the 5K course, while teammate Samantha Modderman (18:08.0) was 10th.

Paul Limpf (24:34.1, 8K meters) was the top finisher for the EWU with a fifth-place effort. Former East Valley High runner Nick Atwood (24:42.3) finished seventh for Montana State.

Northern Arizona, behind first-place finisher Lopez Lomong (23:51.2) won the men’s team title, while Weber State, behind winner Sariah Long (17:13.9), took top honors for the women.

“The Gonzaga women placed sixth and the men were seventh at the West Coast Conference Championships in Belmont, Calif.

Molly Funk (23:44, 6K) was 30th to lead the GU women. Colby Litzenberger (26:20, 8K), who finished 20th, led the men.

San Francisco’s Inman Cheyne won the men’s race in 25:20 and Portland took home the team title. Ferris High grad Mike Quackenbush (25:28) finished fourth for Portland. The Pilots also won the women’s team title behind winner Dana Morgan (20:32).

“The Willamette Bearcats won their seventh straight men’s team title and sixth straight women’s title at the Northwest Conference Championships in Brooks, Ore.

Trista Knutson-Lombardo led a 1-2-3 finish for the Bearcats men, finishing the 8K race in 25:00.34. Sarah Zerzan led a 1-2 finish for the Willamette women, winning in 20:36.01 over 6K.

Nicholas Gallagher (fourth, 25:19.98) led the way for the third-place Whitworth Pirates men, while Jo E Mayer (10th, 22:08.66) topped the fifth-place Whitworth women.