TUCSON, Ariz. -- The Washington State men's team finished fifth and the women's team placed 11th Friday morning at the Pac-12 Cross Country Championships at the Randolph North Golf Course in Tucson, Ariz. The 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.
 
Junior Sam Levora was the top WSU men's placer at 15th after running the 8,000m course in a time of 24 minutes, 50.2 seconds. Other Cougar men scoring were: Michael Williams 24th (25:00.8), John Whelan 26th (25:02.1), Nathan Wadhwani 27th (25:03.1), and Nathan Tadesse 38th (25:18.7). Other Cougars racing included: Paul Ryan 40th (25:24.3), Chandler Teigen 41st (25:27.5), Jake Finney 46th (25:34.7), Justin Janke 48th (25:36.8), and Jackson Haselnus 50th (25:48.6).
 
"I felt like the training has finally came together for me and is reflective of what I am can able of this season," Levora said. "My placement today is definitely a good indicator for where I want to be at regionals and NCAAs these next couple of races. Bottom line though, I just wanted to race and compete as hard as I could today and bring down some big name guys!"
 
Men's team scores (with USTFCCCA Rankings) were: No. 7 Colorado 41, No. 2 Stanford 47, No. 10 UCLA 58, No. 3 Oregon 94, No. 15 Washington State 130, California 163, No. 25 Washington 187, Arizona State 225, and Arizona 234.
 
The Cougar women were led by junior Devon Bortfeld's 37th place finish, running the 6,000m course in a time of 21:37.4. WSU women scoring were: Morgan Willson, 63rd (22:24.6), Morgan Lash 77th (22:50.0), Josie Brown 81st (23:00.8), and Jenaya Pynn 84th (23:14.5). Other Cougar women racing Friday were: Tracy Myers 87th (23:39.8), Katherine Dittmann 89th (23:50.3), Steffie Pavey 92nd (24:02.2), and Desi Stinger 95th (24:15.7).
 
"This was a race where it was essential to execute our race plan correctly, which was to be aggressive at around 3,000 meters," Bortfeld said. "I tried to really engage at the 4k, but it was tough out there. I'm beyond ready to show the West Region what I and, more importantly, our team is capable of achieving."
 
Women's team scores were: No. 1 Colorado 33, No. 2 Washington 74, No. 11 Stanford 83, No. 5 Oregon 88, No. 17 Utah 169, No. 25 California 184, No. 23 UCLA 201, Arizona 204, Oregon State 224, Arizona State 236, Washington State 304, and USC 375.
 
"Fifth is a great finish considering the top four teams are ranked in the top 10 in the nation," WSU Director of Cross Country/Track & Field Wayne Phipps said. "Having said that, we still hoped for more. Sam Levora and Nathan Wadhwani had great races but we missed our normal low sticks as they struggled a little with the heat. Devon Bortfeld had a solid race for the women but our performance today was not an accurate reflection of our team's ability. We are excited and ready to move on to the two most important races of the season."
 
The next competitions for the Cougar men's and women's teams are the NCAA West Regional Cross Country Championships, Nov. 11, at the Haggin Oaks Golf Course in Sacramento, Calif.