SEATTLE – The Utah Valley University men's cross country team earned its fourth WAC Championship while the women's team followed suit with a runner-up finish at the 2018 Western Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships on Saturday at Jefferson Park Golf Course in Seattle.  
 
Junior Kevin Lynch helped propel the men's team to the team championship by winning the 8K conference meet with a blazing time of 24:02.10. Lynch earned WAC Men's Athlete of the Year honors with the victory as well as first team All-WAC accolades. A total of three Wolverines posted top-five finishes, as the 2017 WAC Freshman of the Year Anthony Ocegueda placed fourth (24:24.60) and Adrian Jones crossed the finish line in fifth place (24:31.10). Ocegueda and Jones also earned first team All-WAC recognition for UVU. 
 
As a team, the Wolverine men took home the title with 30 overall points to finish 42 points ahead of second-place UT Rio Grande Valley. 
 
"The men's team was solid from top to bottom. Kevin did a great job of sticking his nose up there for the first 4K, and then pulled it out with a different style, but came back to lead the final 3K by himself. It was a great race for him, especially with how he has managed to battle back from an injury this season," head UVU coach Scott Houle said. "We had a number of great individual performances. Anthony, Adrian, Lamek Keditukei, Geofrey Kemboi, and Hawk Call all also had great races for our men's team, and I'm very pleased that we managed to take home the title."  
 
Lamek Keditukei, Hawk Call and Geofrey Kemboi too all performed well for the men's squad, as the trio all earned second team All-WAC honors by recording top-14 finishes. Keditukei fronted the group with a ninth-place finish (24:43.20), while the freshman Call followed in 11th (24:48:60) and Kemboi in 12th (24:51.60). As a team, the UVU men's team had a total of six runners earn first or second team All-WAC recognition. 
 
The Utah Valley women captured a second-place finish, behind California Baptist, with 61 overall points in the 6K competition. Leading the way for the Wolverine women were Hannah Branch, Savannah Neuberger, and Aisha Graham-Perez, as they all recorded top-10 finishes for UVU. 
 
"I was also pleased with how our women ran today. They did a nice job of closing the gap on California Baptist, and earning the second-place finish was a great achievement. As a team as well as individually we posted a number of PRs and I couldn't be more proud of them," Houle added. "I think they finished really well, especially with how young our women's team is. It was a great race for us and we're looking forward to seeing how we finish at regionals in a couple of weeks."
 
Branch, a sophomore for UVU, led the way for the women's team by placing sixth overall with a time of 21:00.20. A season ago she posted an eighth-place finish as a freshman in the 2017 WAC championships to earn WAC Freshman of the Year honors. Neuberger crossed the line right behind Branch in seventh (21:01.90), as both Branch and Neuberger earned first team All-WAC accolades. The senior Graham-Perez capped off her last WAC Cross Country Championship in ninth place (21:08.50) to take home second team All-WAC recognition. 
 
Maggie Zwahlen was the UVU's fourth-place finisher by placing 15th with a time of 21:28.00, while Kami Lynch crossed the line in 24th (21:54.10) and Mazzie Melaney in 25th (21:56.90). 
 
WAC newcomer CBU won the women's race with 33 total points, while UMKC took third with 89, New Mexico State fourth with 95, UTRGV fifth with 120, Grand Canyon sixth (125), Seattle U seventh (202), CSU Bakersfield eighth (265) and Chicago State ninth (280). 
 
On the men's side, UVU won the race with 30 points followed by UTRGV with 72. Seattle U took third with 88, UMKC fourth with 94, California Baptist fifth with 106, GCU sixth (141), NM State seventh (155) and Chicago State rounded out the field in eighth (242). 
 
Coach Houle also took home WAC Men's Coach of the Year honors on the day after leading his men's squad to its fourth WAC Championship in six tries. Houle previously led his men's team to back-to-back-to-back WAC titles in 2013, 2014 and 2015. 
 
On Saturday, Lynch also became the second member of his family to win a WAC individual title, as his other brother and former UVU standout distance runner Jason Lynch previously won the WAC Championship in 2015. 
 
The Wolverines men's and women's teams will now prepare for the NCAA Mountain Region Championships that will be held Nov. 9 at nearby East Bay Golf Course in Provo. 


 
MEN'S AWARDS
First Team All-WAC
Kevin Lynch, Utah Valley
Omer Almog, UT Rio Grande Valley
Abraham Chirchir, UT Rio Grande Valley
Anthony Ocegueda, Utah Valley
Adrian Jones, Utah Valley
Daniel Flores, Grand Canyon
Eli Boudouris, Seattle U
 
Second Team All-WAC
Ben Monk, Seattle U
Lamek Keditukei, Utah Valley
Marcus Johnson, Kansas City
Hawk Call, Utah Valley
Geofrey Kemboi, Utah Valley
Ryan Parson, Kansas City
Max Selbach, Kansas City
 
Athlete of the Year: Kevin Lynch, Utah Valley
Freshman of the Year: Abraham Chirchir, UT Rio Grande Valley
Coach of the Year: Scott Houle, Utah Valley
 
WOMEN'S AWARDS
First Team All-WAC
Anett Somogyi, California Baptist
Mia Jerman, Kansas City
Karolina Iznerowicz, California Baptist
Mercy Chelangat, UT Rio Grande Valley
Fruzsina Ladanyi, Cal Baptist
Hannah Branch, Utah Valley
Savannah Neuberger, Utah Valley
 
Second Team All-WAC
Anna Mate, California Baptist
Aisha Graham-Perez, Utah Valley
Julia Yescas, NM State
Elizabeth Balsan, Grand Canyon
Katherine Hanners, Kansas City
Jessica Dominguez, NM State
Jennifer Zapata, UT Rio Grande Valley
 
Athlete of the Year: Anett Somogyi, California Baptist
Freshman of the Year: Karolina Iznerowicz, California Baptist
Coach of the Year: Adam Tribble, California Baptist