Hantau claims Region title; L-C teams win conference crowns

 11-3-07

OLYMPIA, Wash. – While senior Calin Hantau ran away from the field, the Lewis-Clark State College men's and women's cross country teams ran away from its Frontier Conference foes during the Region I championships on Saturday. 

Hantau was the top overall finisher in the men’s race, covering the 8 kilometer course in 25 minutes and one second. The victory means the NAIA All American runner from last year will be headed back to the national meet. Hantau's victory makes him the first ever individual regional title winner in LCSC history.

“He ran a very tactical race,” LCSC coach Mike Collins said. “He never led until late in the race. When it came time to shift to another gear, he was the only one.” 

While the Warriors captured both conference titles, the team ran into some stiff competition in the region portion of the meet, which serves as the qualifier for the NAIA national meet. 

Despite being the highest ranked team in the region, the Warrior men's team finished third. The Warriors, ranked No. 8 in the NAIA poll this week, finished behind No. 24 Simon Fraser and No. 10 Eastern Oregon. Simon Fraser ran away from the field with 46 points, while Eastern Oregon was second at 74. LCSC was third at 89, while College of Idaho was fourth at 92. 

“I think we’re a little disappointed in not winning the title, but Simon Fraser ran like a Top 10 team,” Collins said. “I didn’t think we ran that bad.” 

Collins said that EricTuwei, normally a high finisher for the Warriors, was ill and couldn’t finish the race. He said while Tuwei’s usual high finish wouldn’t have helped the team catch Simon Fraser, he did think it would have been enough to finish ahead of Eastern Oregon. 

In the Frontier Conference portion of the race, the LCSC men had six of the top seven runners, led by the 1-2 finish of  Hantau and Aaron Galbraith. Galbraith was 12th overall in the region race at 25:50. 

 As a team, the Warrior men finished with 18 points in the conference race, while Carroll was second at 62 and Westminster third at 71. 

On the women's side, Simon Fraser, the NAIA's top-rated team, ran away with the Region I crown with 25 points, while No. 7-ranked British Columbia was second at 70. Eastern Oregon, ranked No. 17, had 117 points, while LCSC, ranked at No. 15, was at 122. 

Collins said he figured third place would be a toss up between Eastern Oregon, LCSC, and College of Idaho, and only 16 points separated the three. 

“I thought we ran well,” he said. “Jenny (Jensen) led a portion of the race but fell back at the end.” 

The Warriors had little trouble in winning the Frontier Conference portion of the meet. Jensen, a senior, was the top overall conference finisher, and was 11th overall, in 18:41 over the 5-kilometer course. The Warrior women had six of the top nine female finishers in the FC meet, including sophomore Kylie Astle and Emily Perkins, who finished second and third. Astle was 19th overall in the regional race in 19:07, while Perkins was 21st in 19:26. 

LCSC finished with 22 points in the conference meet, while Carroll was second at 63 and Great Falls third at 66.

Only the winning team from each region earns an automatic berth to the national championships. The 14 region champions will join 14 at-large berth teams for the national meet in Kenosha, Wisc., on Nov. 17. At-large berths are determined by the final rankings.

Collins said he believes both Warrior teams will get at-large berths and they should find out either Monday night or Tuesday morning.  If the current rankings were used, both LCSC teams would qualify. 

This marked the first cross country championship race in the history of the Frontier Conference. 

MEN

Team scores - 1, Simon Fraser 46. 2, Eastern Oregon 74.  3, LCSC 89. 4, College of Idaho 92. 5, Southern Oregon 122. 6, British Columbia 238. 7,  Corban 240.  8, Northwest U. 244. 9, Warner Pacific 281. 10, Carroll 283. 11, Westminster 304.  12, Concordia 306. 13, Oregon Tech 325. 14, Evergreen State 332. 15, Great Falls 403.  

Top 10 finishers - 1, Calin Hantau, LCSC, 25:01. 2, Dylan Gant, SF, 25:09. 3, David Wambui, SF, 25:15. 4, Eric Burck, Con, 25:32. 5, Ryan Brockerville, SF, 23:35. 6, Kevin Jeffers, SOU, 25:37. 7, Tyler Hopper, CoI, 25:37. 8, Cameron Kreuz, SO, 25:40. 9, Zach Heath, EO, 25:46. 10, Jesse Chelbeck, CoI, 25:47.

Other LCSC finishers - 12, Aaron Galbraith 25:50. 21, Christ McConnell 26:11. 26, Adrian Ramirez  26:25.  29, Jake Miller, 26:32. 31, Sean Huey 26:35. 82, John Kane 28:27. 91, Keith Nebeker 29:01.

WOMEN

Team scores - 1, Simon Fraser 25. 2, British Columbia 70. 3, Eastern Oregon 117. 4, Lewis-Clark State 122. 5, College of Idaho 133. 6, Corban 146. 7, Northwest U. 242. 8, Eastern Oregon 277. 9, tie, Great Falls and Carroll 278. 11, Southern oregon 342. 12, Evergreen State 345. 13, Warner Pacific 349. 14, Concordia 354. 15, Westminster 380. 16, Northwest Christian 413. 17, Rocky Mountain 450.

Top 10 finishers - 1, Kristen Kolstad, SF, 17:46 . 2, Jessica Smith, SF, 18:13. 3, Ali Hudson, SF, 18:16. 4,  Elizabeth Knudtson, NU, 5:46. 5, Angela Shaw, SF, 18:25. 6, Shannon Elmer, UBC, 18:32. 7, Macella Bosh, EO, 18:36. 8, Danielle Jordan, Cor, 18:39. 9, Stephanie Helm, CoI, 18:39. 10, Natalie Bell, UBC, 18:41.

LCSC finishers - 11, Jenny Jensen, LC, 18:41. 19, Kyle Astle, 19:07. 21, Emily Perkins 19:26. 34, Lindsay Szybura 19:51. 40, Katja Palm-Loevslett, 20:01. 48, Rikki Glick 20:14. 81, Rosa Bautista 21:06. 86, Casey Hampton, 21:16. 91, Jenny Gulsvig 21:30.