The men’s and women’s cross country teams headed to Ellensburg to compete in the CWU winter invite on Saturday Feb. 20, and both teams bested their Central Washington competition.

Sophomore Jared Putney won the men’s 8K race, followed by freshman Austin Weese and senior Elius Graff in second and third. Junior Brayden Schultz and senior Colin Boutin finished in sixth and seventh place as well. Putney said he went into the race on Saturday with the goal of winning it.

“It felt good to win just because of all the work I have put in since last year. This race proved that my coach’s training plan is working, and I just need to keep putting in the work,” Putney said.

Weese was proud to finish second in his first college race.

“Having a lot of success in my first college race was relieving. I was pretty nervous to race my first 8k, but I just reminded myself to trust my training and stay focused,” said Weese.

Meanwhile, senior Dania Holmberg won the women’s 6K race by nearly a full minute over freshman teammate Belle Brandenfels. It marked Holmberg’s first cross country individual win in her career. Sophomore Kelsey Washenberger, senior Elizabeth Thompson, and freshman Ellie Rising finished in fourth, fifth and sixth.

This is the only cross country race of the season, as the teams prepare for outdoor track.

“Ever since outdoor track ended abruptly last year due to COVID, I’ve had my eyes set on this upcoming outdoor track season, and I’ve got some big goals that I think I’ll be able to accomplish,” Putney said.

The women’s soccer team took on a University of Washington squad that had them on their heels for the entire game. In their first competition since Nov. 16, 2019, the Falcons were outshot by the Huskies 18-1.

Thanks to Falcon goalie Riley Travis and the Falcons defense, the game was scoreless until the 75th minute, when Mary Johnston took a long shot that curled into the corner of the net. Two minutes later, the Huskies doubled their lead when Ameera Hussen’s corner kick flew directly into the net. The Huskies walked away with a 2-0 win.

The Falcons men’s and women’s basketball teams continued their abbreviated seasons this week as well, but played new opponents.

The women split their games against Northwest Nazarene University, winning 66-61 on Friday and losing 61-47 on Saturday. Juniors Ashley Alter and Rachel Berg had 16 points apiece in the win, and Junior Natalie Hoff led the Falcons with 15 points in the loss.

The men took on Central Washington University this weekend, and came back from eight points down to get a 86-82 win, led by junior Divant’e Moffitt’s 18 points and Senior Harry Cavell’s 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

The next night, the men took down CWU again, winning 92-74. Cavell and redshirt freshman Kelton Samore led the Falcons with 18 points each.