Eastern women make fourth, men sixth at Clash

Isaac Barville and Maddie Drennen were the top finishers for the Eastern Washington University cross country teams as they opened the 2019 season in Cheney with the Clash of the Inland Northwest on Saturday. The Eastern men finished sixth and the women were fourth among the seven teams who fielded full teams for the event.

Barville led the Eastern men by finishing 10th on the 5,750-meter course with a time of 18 minutes, 8.1 seconds.

“Both teams were running on heavy legs and I think it showed through a bit more in the longer guys race,” Eastern head coach Sam Read said. “Isaac (Barville) ran very well and ran selflessly, leading the pack through 4K before leaving to run his race. That really kept our pack together and led to a solid first-race finish.”

The top women’s finisher for the Eagles was Drennen, who placed 19th with a time of 15:01.7 on a 4,000-meter course.

“We had some fearless women today,” Read said.” Freshman Kenzie Gaines and Maddie Drennon both went for it and led early. I love that mindset, but they still have some work on their fitness to race at that level. We got a glimpse of their future today though.”

Gonzaga, Idaho, Montana, Lewis-Clark State, Whitman and Whitworth were the other schools taking part in the annual event which has rotated locations in recent years. Gonzaga won the men’s competition and was victorious for the women’s as well.

“We were a little too eager in the first half of the race, but we wanted to be aggressive and test our fitness,” Read said. “A bit more patience will improve our running.”

Eastern competes in four more regular season meets, including meets in Colfax, Wash., Salem, Ore., Spokane and Sunnyvale, Calif.

The 2019 Big Sky men’s and women’s championships will be hosted by the University of Northern Colorado on Nov. 2 in Greeley, Colo. The NCAA West Regionals take place on Nov. 15 at the Colfax Golf Club in Colfax.