Pirates men win regional

The Whitworth men’s cross country team made history Saturday, qualifying for its first NCAA Division III championship by winning the West Regional meet behind their first individual regional champion, sophomore Nick Gallagher.

Gallagher led most of the 8,000 meters at Bush’s Pasture Park in Salem, Ore., before being caught at the 4-mile mark. He stayed on the heels of Francis Reynolds until out-sprinting the Puget Sound junior to the finish line. Gallagher finished in 25 minutes, 1.25 seconds, .18 ahead of Reynolds.

With junior Dusty Caseria finishing seventh (25:23.13) and freshman Aaron Jenkins eighth (25:25.46), the Pirates tallied 67 points, 16 ahead of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

The Whitworth women tied for fourth with Whitman at 126 points, 38 behind winner Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Freshman Kathryn Williams was the top runner for the Pirates in 20th.

•It’s a waiting game for Eastern Washington senior Paul Limpf, who finished 11th at the NCAA West Regional at Stanford, Calif. Limpf finished the 10,000-meter course in 29:17.47, which puts him on the bubble for an at-large berth. Oregon’s Galen Rupp defended his title in 27:41.25.

The EWU men finished 20th among 25 teams, with Oregon winning. Washington finished fifth and Washington State was ninth.

On the women’s side, UW won with 25 points, well ahead of Oregon. UW’s Christine Babcock finished third, 3 seconds behind winner Alex Kosinski of Oregon. Husky Mel Lawrence was another second back. The WSU women were 10th. Idaho came in 23rd.

Volleyball

At Portland, Eastern Washington moved into a tie for the Big Sky Conference lead with a 25-19, 25-21, 25-15 sweep of Portland State, thanks to outstanding defense.

Mandy Daniels (24) and Jacque Brown (17) combined for 41 digs for the Eagles (16-10, 11-4), who snapped a three-game losing streak at PSU (18-7, 11-4). Hayley Hills had 18 kills.

EWU closes the regular season at Sacramento State on Friday but goes into the match with the tiebreaker over PSU, which plays at Sacramento State on Saturday, and then hosts the league tournament in two weeks.

•Idaho closed out the regular season with a 25-14, 25-19, 25-22 win over Fresno State in Moscow to earn the third seed for the WAC tournament at Hawaii. The Vandals (18-9, 11-5) face sixth-seeded Nevada on Thursday. Haley Larsen led Idaho with 16 kills.

•No. 24 Pepperdine dispatched Gonzaga in a West Coast Conference game at Martin Centre. The Waves (19-5, 7-5) swept the Bulldogs 25-18, 25-13, 25-14. GU (10-20, 3-10) was led by Elaina Renius and Layne Brosky, with six kills each.

Men’s soccer

Community Colleges of Spokane (13-7-3) advanced to the NWAACC semifinals by upsetting host Highline (14-3-3), the champion of the West Division, 1-0 after a 4-3 shootout at Des Moines, Wash. The Sasquatch, the second seed out of the East, will face Chemeketa (13-2-6), the South champion, Saturday night in Tukwila, Wash.