BELLINGHAM, Wash. - The Saint Martin's Cross Country teams travel up north for the 2017 GNAC Cross Country Championships on Saturday, October 21, at Lake Padden Park, on a 6,000-meter course for the women and 8,000 meter course for the men. 

COMPLETE RELEASE

The Saints' will look to repeat last year success after a fifth place on the women's side and will be led by Yadira Lopez, who finished 8th overall with a time of 22:11.1 minutes. Lopez has raced once this season on a 6,000-meter course, at the 44th Annual Western Washington Cross Country Classic, where she finished with a time of 23:14.7 minutes. Larissa Kolasinski has raced on 6,000-meter courses twice this, first winning the Puget Sound Invitational before dropping nearly 30 seconds off her time at the WWU Classic (23.22.2 minutes). Juniors Lindsey Dorney and Sadie Dalgleish each have experience at this distance, with Dorney finishing at 24:18.4 minutes and Dalgleish (25.48.7) dropping a minute off her time in the two races. The final two Saints traveling on the women's side will be sophomores Olivia Abbott and Yeshi Vaughan. Abbott and Vaughan raced in both of the Saints' 6K with Abbott's low coming in at 30:18.6 minutes and Vaughan hitting the mark of 25:49.0 minutes.

Over on the men's side of action, the Saints will be bringing 10 racers to the Championships. Senior Josh Hunt has led the Saints all season and will to continue at the GNAC Championships. Hunt, in three 8K races, has seen his time drop nearly two minutes from a 28:07.0 to 26:14.6 over the season. Backing up Hunt is Levi Schilter, who also shaved roughly two minutes off his time from 28:31.0 to 26:45.7 minutes. Fellow senior Austin Miller, will be making his final appearance at the GNAC Championships, and carries a 29.37.0 time into the race. Three freshman will be making the trip for the first time in Miguel De LaMelena (27.27.0), Derrick Howlett (28.16.7) and Guillaume Tabary (28.11.5), who all have trimmed considerable amounts of time off their 8K marks throughout the season. Rounding out the Saints is Junior Joe Edgecomb and Sophomore Colton Buster who sport times of 27.33.9 and 27.59.9 minutes respectively.

The women's race is scheduled to start at 10:00 a.m. followed by the men at 11:00 a.m. and the award ceremony at noon. Live Results will be available on the race and can be found on gnacsports.com.