Sophomore Saedy Williamson and graduate student Rosa Granados both turned in excellent results for the Green & Gold at this past weekend’s CCAA Conference Cross Country Championships on the campus of Cal State San Marcos.
Williamson finished 8th while Granados finished 10th to both claim all-conference honors, leading the Lumberjack women to a 6th place team finish. The pair are the first Lumberjack women to earn all-conference recognition since 2017.
For Granados, both her and Williamson raced strategically in what is historically a fast starting race.
“We raced pretty smart,” Granados said in a press conference on Tuesday. “There were a lot of teams that went out super hard the first half and me and Saedy really kept taking it upon ourselves to keep moving forward and passing girls. We started off around 20th and built ourselves to top-10. It’s just awesome to see the hard work we’ve been putting in.”
Williamson also felt proud to achieve a goal she set at the beginning of the season.
“That [top 15] was my goal the entire season,” Williamson said. “Through about half of the race, I was in there and I was like ‘ok wow I’m doing this,’ so it was kind of a shock to me too, but I’m really happy with it.”
On the men’s side, transfer Ian Rusk led the way with a 32nd place finish as the Lumberjack men finished ninth.
Both squads return to action at the NCAA Division II West Region Championships in Monmouth, Oregon on Saturday, Nov. 6.
For both women, a good performance could potentially vault them to the national championships in Tampa, Florida on Nov. 20.
“There’s a chance that me and Rosa could make it to Nationals,” Williamson said. “Going into it [the regionals] there’s expectations for us and the competition going into this race is pretty good. It’ll be a fun race, exciting and fast.”
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