NO. 18 COUGAR MEN TAKE 14TH AT NCAA XC CHAMPIONSHIPS
The No. 18 Washington State men's team finished 14th at the 2016 NCAA Cross Country Championships with Michael Williams taking 30th place on the 10k course at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports in Terre Haute, Ind... this was the highest Cougar finish in 32 years when the WSU men took seventh place at the 1984 championship in University Park, Penn...this was the second consecutive season the WSU men's team earned an at-large bid to compete at the NCAA Championships.

WAYNE PHIPPS, DIRECTOR  WSU CROSS COUNTRY/TRACK & FIELD
Wayne Phipps (University of British Columbia '91) completed his third season with the Washington State cross country program...he became the 15th men's coach and the second coach for the combined men's and women's program at WSU on July 1, 2014, after 19 years at the University of Idaho...Phipps led the Cougar men's program back-to-back NCAA Championships at-large berth appearances with a 14th-place finish in 2016: the highest in 32 years after the entire 2015 team that placed 26th returned for the 2016 season....during the 2016 Track & Field season, a pair of Cougs earned second-team All-America honors...Cougars tallied 25 new entries into the WSU all-time top ten records...while at Idaho, Phipps was honored 14 times as a conference coach of the year and led the Vandals to a record 16 conference titles.

ALLIX POTRATZ-LEE, ASSISTANT COACH
Allix Potratz-Lee joined the WSU track and field coaching staff in July 2014 after an outstanding career as a student-athlete and coach at the University of Idaho...member of the cross country/track and field coaching staff in 2010 as an assistant to Wayne Phipps, working with the distance corps...women's cross country team won WAC team titles in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.. she was a five-time WAC champion, a 10-time first-team all-WAC honoree and a two-time ESPN/CoSIDA Academic All-American...she helped Idaho cross country capture the 2005, 2007 XC team titles, and claimed the 2008 individual WAC cross country crown.

COUGARS AT THE 2016 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Led by the 30th-place finish by junior Michael Williams, the No. 18 WSU men's cross country team finished 14th at the NCAA DI Cross Country Championships at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Ind...this is the highest Cougar finish in 32 years when the WSU men took seventh place at the 1984 championship in University Park, Penn... Williams earned All-America honors (top 40 individuals), the first Cougar since Bernard Lagat, with a seventh-place finish, and Eric Kamau, with a 29th-place finish, in 1998 when the WSU men took 18th place...running a 10,000 meters race for the second time in nine days, Williams ran a time of 30:16.6 seconds, 30th overall and 24th in team scoring...other WSU runners: John Whelan 63rd overall/49th team scoring (30:37.6), Nathan Tadesse 113th/90th (30:58.1),  Sam Levora 115th/91st (30:58.6), Chandler Teigen 145th/116th (31:12.2), and non-scorers Paul Ryan 220th (31:57.4), and Nathan Wadhwani who was spiked early in the race and was not able to continue running.

COUGARS IN THE NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
The WSU men's cross country team finished in fifth-place finish at both the Pac-12 Championships and at the NCAA West Region and was ranked 18th in the pre-NCAA U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Week 7 Nov. 14 national poll...the WSU men were ranked 19th in the Nov. 13 Flotrack Saucony Flo50 ranking...the highest 2016 ranking for the Cougar men was 15th in the Oct. 18 poll...historically, WSU's men's cross country team has been ranked as high as 10th in the preseason poll of 1998 when the Cougars placed 18th at the NCAA Championships...more recently, WSU was ranked 20th for two weeks in 2009 and fell to 27th at the end of that season but finished 21st at the NCAA Championships...WSU was ranked 25th in 2015 Week 7, the first national ranking under Coach Phipps...WSU was an at-large team at the NCAA Championships where the Cougar men finished 26th out of 31 teams.

NCAA WEST REGION 2016 RESULTS
The No. 17 WSU men's cross country team finished fifth (143 pts) at the NCAA West Region Cross Country Championships, Nov. 11 at the Haggin Oaks Golf Course in Sacramento...No. 4 Stanford won the men's team title with 75 points...Oregon's Edward Cheserek was the men's individual winner for the third time in his career, running the 10,000m in 29:23.7...No. 7 Stanford won the women's team title with 71 points...Cougar women finished 18th (525 pts)...Washington's Amy-Eloise Neale won the women's individual title running the 6k in 19:27.8...WSU junior Michael Williams was 17th (29:59.8) and senior John Whelan was 18th (30:02.5)...both earned All-Region honors...junior Devon Bortfeld was the top WSU woman at 38th overall (20:28.0).

PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS 2016 RESULTS
The Washington State men's team finished fifth and the women's team placed 11th at the 2016 Pac-12 Cross Country Championships at the Randolph North Golf Course in Tucson, Ariz., Oct. 28...No. 7 Colorado's men's team won its sixth consecutive Pac-12 Conference title and the No. 1 Colorado women's team claimed its second straight title...Oregon's Edward Cheserek (23:58.9) won his fourth individual title and Washington's Amy-Eloise Neale (20:22.9) won the women's title...top placers for WSU were Sam Levora (15th) for the men, and Devon Bortfeld (37th) for the women.

COUGAR MEN 2016 ROSTER 
Andrew Cooper    Fr.    Issaquah, Wash. (Liberty HS) 
Ran unattached at Sundodger and finished 30th...also unattached at Washington Invite with 61st overall finish.

Cameron Dean    Fr.    Spokane, Wash. (Mead HS)
Finished Sundodger 37th overall/13th on team...at Washington Invite 40th overall/5th on team...at Inland Empire Champs finished 17th overall/5th on team.

Jake Finney    So.    Post Falls, Idaho (Lake City HS)
Finished Sundodger 18th overall/9th on team...at Washington Invite 19th overall/1st on team...at Inland Empire Championships finished 3rd overall/2nd on team...at Pac-12 Championships 8th on team/46th overall...2015: Pac-12s 5th on team/46th overall; NCAA West Region 6th on team/95th overall; NCAA Championships 7th on team/223rd overall.

Jackson Haselnus    Rs-Jr.    Gresham, Ore. (Barlow HS)
Finished Sundodger 13th overall/8th on team...at Washington Invite 26th overall/2nd on team...at Inland Empire Championships 5th overall/3rd on team... at Pac-12 Championships 10th on team/50th overall.

Justin Janke    Fr.    Spokane, Wash. (North Central HS 
Finished Sundodger 9th overall/6th on team... at Notre Dame Joe Piane Invite 108th overall/8th on team...individual winner at Inland Empire Championships...at Pac-12 Championships 9th on team/48th overall.

Sam Levora    Jr.    Sandpoint, Idaho (Sandpoint HS)
Finished Sundodger 5th overall/2nd on team...at Notre Dame Joe Piane Invite 36th overall/3rd on team...at Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invite 68th overall/4th on team...at Pac-12 Championships 1st on team/15th overall...at NCAA West Region 10k finished 4th on team/36th overall (30:24.7)...at NCAA Championships, 4th Cougar, 115th overall/91st team scoring...WSU team took 14th-place...2015: Pac-12s 3rd on team/32nd overall; NCAA West Region 3rd on team/32nd overall; NCAA Championships 3rd on team/151st overall.

Kyler Little    So.    Coeur d'Alene, Idaho (Lake City HS) 
Finished Sundodger 20th overall/11th on team...at Washington Invite 30th overall/4th on team.

Reid Muller    So.    Pitt Meadows, B.C., Canada (Pitt Meadows) 
Finished Sundodger 19th overall/10th on team...at Washington Invite 27th overall/3rd on team...at Inland Empire Champs finished 11th overall/4th on team. 

Paul Ryan    So.    Moscow, Idaho (Logos HS) 
Finished Sundodger 10th overall/7th on team...at Notre Dame Joe Piane Invite 182nd overall/5th on team...at Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invite 158th overall/6th on team...at Pac-12 Championships 6th on team/40th overall...at NCAA West Region 10k finished 6th on team/65th overall (30:58.6)...at NCAA Championships, 6th Cougar, 220th overall...WSU team took 14th-place. 

Kennan Schrag    Fr.    Issaquah, Wash. (Issaquah HS)
Redshirt season. 

Alex Simpson    Sr.    Asotin, Wash. (Asotin HS)
Finished Sundodger 39th overall/14th on team...at Washington Invite 69th overall/7th on team...at Inland Empire Champs finished 28th overall/7th on team.

Nathan Tadesse    So.    Surrey, British Columbia, Canada (N. Surrey Sr.)
Finished Sundodger 8th overall/5th on team...at Notre Dame Joe Piane Invite 99th overall/7th on team...at Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invite 160th overall/7th on team...at Pac-12 Championships 5th on team/38th overall...at NCAA West Region 10k finished 7th on team/73rd overall (31:10.7)...at NCAA Championships, 3rd Cougar, 113rd overall/90th team scoring...WSU team took 14th-place...2015: Pac-12s 7th on team/70th overall; NCAA West Region 4th team/37th overall; NCAA Championships 6th on team/193rd overall. 

Chandler Teigen    So.    Anatone, Wash. (Asotin HS)
Finished Sundodger 6th overall/3rd on team...fell during race at Notre Dame Joe Piane Invite so finished 95th overall/6th on team...at Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invite 67th overall/3rd on team...at Pac-12 Championships 7th on team/41st overall...at NCAA West Region 10k finished 3rd on team/27th overall (30:10.9)...at NCAA Championships, 5th Cougar, 145th overall/116th team scoring...WSU team took 14th-place...2015: Pac-12s 4th on team/40th overall; NCAA West Region 5th team/51st overall; NCAA Championships 5th on team/1823rd overall.

Isaac Wadhwani    Fr.    Maple Ridge, B.C., Canada (Fox Secondary) 
Finished Sundodger 25th overall/12th on team...at Washington Invite 57th overall/6th on team...at Inland Empire Champs 23rd overall/6th on team. 

Nathan Wadhwani    So.    Maple Ridge, B.C., Canada (Fox Secondary)
Finished Sundodger 7th overall/4th on team...at Notre Dame Joe Piane Invite 48th overall/4th on team...at Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invite 110th overall/5th on team...at Pac-12 Championships 4th on team/27th overall...at NCAA West Region 10k finished 5th on team/47th overall (30:39.0)...at NCAA Championships, was skiked early in race and did not finish...2015: Pac-12s 6th on team/57th overall; NCAA West Region 7th on team/107th overall; NCAA Championships 4th on team/174th overall.

John Whelan    Sr.    Etna, Calif. (Etna HS)
Team captain...ran unattached for Sundodger 4th place finish...at Notre Dame Joe Piane Invite, led Cougars with 8th place overall finish...at Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invite 23rd overall/2nd on team...at Pac-12 Championships 3rd on team/26th overall...at NCAA West Region 10k second on team with 18th place finish (30:029.5)...All-Region honors...at NCAA Championships, 2nd Cougar, 63rd overall/49th team scoring...WSU team took 14th-place...2015: Pac-12s 1st on team/9th overall; NCAA West Region 1st on team/2nd overall...All-Region honors; NCAA Championships 2nd on team/113th overall.

Michael Williams    Jr.    Richland, Wash. (Richland HS)
Finished Sundodger 2nd overall/1st on team...at Notre Dame Joe Piane Invite 16th overall/2nd on team...at Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invite 15th overall/1st on team...at Pac-12 Championships 2nd on team/24th overall...at NCAA West Region 10k led team with 17th place finish (29:59.8)...All-Region honors...at NCAA Championships, led No. 18 team to 14th-place team finish with his 30th place finish...ALL-AMERICA...2015: Pac-12s 2nd on team/12th overall; NCAA West Region 2nd on team/3rd overall...All-Region honors; NCAA Championships 1st on team/57th overall.

COUGAR WOMEN 2016 ROSTER
Anisa Allaet     So.    Spokane, Wash. (Ferris HS)    
2016 Medical Redshirt... 2015 Pac-12s 7th on team/89th overall; NCAA     West Regionals 7th on team/179th overall.  

Brittany Aquino    Fr.    Spokane Valley, Wash. (East Valley HS)
 Yet to compete in 2016. 

Devon Bortfeld    Jr.    Sammamish, Wash. (Eastlake HS)
Team captain...Sundodger finish 12th overall/1st on team...at Washington Invite 15th overall/1st on team...at Nuttycombe Wisconsin Open 4th overall/1st on team...at Pac-12 Champs 1st on team/37th overall...at NCAA West Region was 1st on team, 38th overall...2015: Pac-12s 2nd on team/49th overall; NCAA West Regionals 2nd on team/53rd overall.

Josie Brown    So.    Coeur d'Alene, Idaho (Coeur d'Alene HS)
Sundodger finish 25th  overall/5th on team...at Washington Invite 68th    overall/8th on team...at Nuttycombe Wisconsin Open 34th overall/3rd on team...at Pac-12 Champs 4th on team/81st overall...at NCAA West Region was 4th on team, 143rd overall...2015: Pac-12s 10th on team/102nd overall.

Katherine Dittmann    So.    Snohomish, Wash. (Glacier Peak HS)
Sundodger finish 35th overall/8th on team...at Washington Invite 59th    overall/6th on team...at Nuttycombe Wisconsin Open 62nd overall/6th on team...at Pac-12 Champs 7th on team/89th overall...at NCAA West Region was 6th on team, 159th overall...2015: Pac-12s 6th on team/88th overall; NCAA West Regionals 5th on team/99th overall.

Alexys Garcia    Sr.    Pullman, Wash. (Pullman HS)
Competed unattached at Washington Invite and finished 89th overall...at Inland Empire Champs 5k, 45th overall/7th on team...2015 Pac-12s 8th on team/93rd overall.

Marie Gaudin    Fr.    Arlington, Wash. (Arlington HS)
Sundodger finish 38th overall/9th on team...at Washington Invite 74th    overall/10th on team...at Inland Empire Champs 5k, 25th overall/3rd on team.

Melissa Hruska    Fr.    Snoqualmie, Wash. (Mount Si HS)
Sundodger finish19th overall/4th on team...at Washington Invite 52nd     overall/5th on team...at Nuttycombe Wisconsin Open 67th overall/7th on team.

Morgan Lash    Fr.    Anchorage, Alaska (South Anchorage HS)
Sundodger finish18th overall/3rd on team...at Washington Invite 45th     overall/3rd on team...at Nuttycombe Wisconsin Open 35th overall/4th on team...at Pac-12 Champs 3rd on team/77th overall...at NCAA West Region was 3rd on team, 135th overall.

Mallori Lindberg    Rs-So.    Woodinville, Wash. (Woodinville HS)
At Washington Invite finished 86th overall/13th on team...at Inland Empire Champs 5k, 26th overall/4th on team.

Tracy Myers    Rs-Fr.    Beamsville, Ontario, Canada (Grimsby)
Sundodger finish 32nd overall/7th on team...at Washington Invite 67th    overall/7th on team...at Inland Empire Champs 5k, 10th overall/1st on team....at Pac-12 Champs 6th on team/87th overall...at NCAA West Region was 7th on team, 236th overall.

Steffie Pavey    Sr.    Oldtown, Idaho (Priest River Lamanna HS)
Sundodger finish 48th overall/11th on team...at Washington Invite 80th overall.12th on team...at Inland Empire Champs 5k, 20th overall/2nd on team...at Pac-12 Champs 8th on team/92nd overall...at NCAA West Region was 5th on team, 155th overall...2015: Pac-12s 4th on team/74th overall; NCAA West Regionals 6th on team/145th overall.

Elizabeth Perez-Bossut    Fr.    Queens, NY (Benjamin Cardozo HS)
At Inland Empire Champships 5k, 42nd overall/6th on team.

Jenaya Pynn    Rs-Fr.    Nanaimo, B.C., Canada (Wellington)
At Washington Invite finished 50th overall/4th on team...at Nuttycombe Wisconsin Open 46th overall/5th on team...at Pac-12 Champs 5th on team/84th overall.

Alexis Redfield    Fr.    Zillah, Wash. (Zillah HS)
Sundodger finish 39th overall/10th on team...at Washington Invite 72nd     overall/9th on team...at Inland Empire Champs 5k, 30th overall/5th on team.

Desi Stinger    Fr.    Temecula, Calif. (Great Oak HS)
Sundodger finish 26th overall/6th on team...at Washington Invite 76th overall/11th on team...at Pac-12 Champs 9th on team/95th overall.

Morgan Willson    Sr.    Colfax, Wash. (Colfax HS)
Sundodger finish 13th overall/2nd on team...at Washington Invite 29th     overall/2nd on team...at Nuttycombe Wisconsin Open 18th overall/2nd on team...at Pac-12 Champs 2nd on team/63rd overall...at NCAA West Region was 2nd on team, 69th overall...2015: Pac-12s 3rd on team/54th overall; NCAA West Regionals 3rd on team/66th overall. 

COUGARS EARN PAC-12 ALL-ACADEMIC XC TEAMS
Washington State had seven men and five women named to the 2016 Pac-12 Conference Cross Country All-Academic Teams...Steffie Pavey was a first team seleciton for the third consecutive year...below are the WSU honorees:

Men's First Team
Jake Finney, So., 3.92 GPA Mathematics major
Chandler Teigen, So., 4.00 GPA Uncertified major

Men's Second Team
Nathan Wadhwani, So., 3.76 GPA Uncertified major

Men's Honorable Mention 
Jackson Haselnus, Rs-Jr., 3.42 GPA Journalism & Media Production major
Paul Ryan, So., 3.54 GPA Uncertified major
Nathan Tadesse, So., 3.16 GPA Uncertified major
John Whelan, Sr., 3.20 GPA Biology major

Women's First Team
Steffie Pavey, Sr., 3.92 GPA Accounting major

Women's Second Team
Josie Brown, So., 3.84 GPA Uncertified major
Katherine Dittmann, So., 3.85 GPA Uncertified major

Women's Honorable Mention
Devon Bortfeld, Jr., 3.75 GPA Psychology
Morgan Willson, Sr. 3.42 GPA Management and Operations