BURNABY, B.C. – Charlie Dannatt made history for the Simon Fraser cross country program Saturday, becoming the first Red Leafs runner to win the NCAA Division II Men's Cross Country West Region Championship race.
 
Dannatt, from North Vancouver, B.C., completed today's 10-kilometer run on a bitterly cold day in Billings, Montana, in 30 minutes 7.49 seconds. He finished nearly three seconds ahead of GNAC champion Cole Nash of Alaska Anchorage (30:10.34). The two runners never lost contact with each other over the Amend Park course before Dannatt pulled ahead over the final kilometer to win.
 
Dannatt's performance sparked SFU to a fourth-place result in the team competition after scoring 126 points. The Red Leafs got other excellent performances on Saturday as Sebastian Brinkman (Bellevue, Wash.) crossed the finish line in 12th place with a time of 30:35.69.
 
Scott Arndt of Waterloo, Ont., came through in 30th place, reaching the finish in 31:14.78. Aiden Good of Carstairs, Alta. (31:35.12) and Henry Ruckman-Utting of Burnaby, B.C. (31:36.10) were 43rd and 44th, respectively.
 
Ephrem Mekonnen (73rd, 32:22.33) and Jordan Schmidt (124th, 34:05.22) rounded out the Red Leafs' contingent.
 
"I am so incredibly proud of both my men's and women's teams this weekend," said SFU head coach Brit Townsend. "They endured some of the worst conditions I've ever seen for a cross country meet. It was so cold and windy, minus-15 with the wind chill. Very hard to dress for a race like this. Charlie came away with an incredible victory and beat Alaska's Nash, who's been winning all year. Sebastian also earned NCAA All-Region recognition for his 12th-place finish and Aiden, Scott, and Henry all ran great races to complete the scoring spots. Our men's team will wait to hear on Monday for an at-large berth they really deserve."

Dannatt has earned an invitation to the Division II Cross Country Championships, which will take place on Friday, Dec. 2 at the Chambers Creek Golf Course in University Place, Washington.
 

With Grace Chalk leading the way, the SFU women's crew was ninth in the team competition (241 points). The Langley, B.C., runner traversed the six-kilometer course in 21:37.88 to earn the 13th individual spot.
 
Emily Chilton (New Westminster, B.C.) was 40th in 22:12.87, while teammate Charlotte Prangley (North Vancouver, B.C.) was close behind in 46th (22:22.03).
 
Megan Roxby of North Vancouver, B.C., completed the event in 22:44.11 for 67th place. SFU's fifth scoring runner was Milena Kalisch of New Westminster, B.C., who was 77th (22:53.29).
 
Kate Cameron of Nanaimo, B.C., was right behind her in 78th with a time of 22:53.74. Ella Marion of Calgary was 94th, recording a time of 23:16.69.
 
"The young women's team struggled in the cold conditions but Grace continued what has been her best season ever to earn an NCAA All-Region honour - her first one ever - with her 13th-place finish," said Townsend. "She was followed by Emily, Charlotte, Kate and Megan to complete the scoring positions."
 
- with files from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference

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