TACOMA, Wash -- Throughout this fall season, Cian Monaghan had been chasing after London Haley – but hadn't been able to catch him.
 
On Saturday, University of Puget Sound senior Monaghan finally got ahead of Whitworth junior Haley.
 
And once he did, he wasn't about to get caught.
 
Edging in front during the second half of the race, Monaghan stretched it out toward the end and won the men's title on a wet and windy day at the Northwest Conference Cross Country Championships.
 
Monaghan completed his eight muddy kilometers around the PLU course in 25 minutes, 16.2 seconds. Haley wound up five seconds back in 25:21.2. Those two were well ahead of everybody else, as Caden Hildenbrand of George Fox was third in 25:40.7.
 
"I almost fell a couple times. The wind and ran were a bit rough, but we got it done," said Monaghan, who was 12th at last year's NWC meet, is the sixth Logger all-time to win the conference title, and now will set his sights on the NCAA West Regionals, set for Nov. 15 in Claremont, California. "We got out there and I just tried to hammer. I didn't want him to pass me.
 
"All the kilometers were rough in different ways, but the last 4K was the roughest point," said Monaghan, the second sibling in his family to capture a conference crown. (Older brother Colin won in 2018 and 2019.) "We were just dancing between us – it was like war out there in the mud. I just started going and I didn't want him to pass me. I just tried to hammer.
 
Monaghan and Haley have gone against each other three times this season. At the PLU Open on this same course back on Sept. 20, Haley won in 24:54; Monaghan was 13th in 26:13. At the Whitman Open on Oct. 4 in Walla Walla, Haley was sixth in 24:46; Monaghan was 18th in 25:22. Then at the Linfield George Oja Invitational on Oct. 18, Haley was ninth in 24:09; Monaghan was close behind in 15th at 24:14.
 
"When we first raced here (in September), I wasn't feeling 100 percent," Monaghan said. "Then today, I just trained through the season and got a ton better. I didn't run anywhere close to my PR, but the main goal was to win."
'
Added Loggers head coach Lisa Kushiyama, "Cian ran exactly how he needed to. We knew he was going to be in the top three coming into it. But he was going to have to fight for it, and he did. He fought for it."
 
Monaghan's win led the Loggers to a sixth-place finish in the team standings with 148 points. George Fox made it six consecutive first-place finishes with the day's low total of 37 points.
 
While Monaghan was celebrating a victory, the Puget Sound women got to celebrate earning a chance to compete as a team at West Regionals. Led by sophomore Emily Moore in 12th place, the Loggers finished fourth with 87 points. George Fox won its fourth straight crown, this one with 41 points.
 
Any team that wishes to enter West Regionals can do so, but individual schools are allowed to set their own rules for participating.
 
"We have a team standard of top-4 (at conference) makes it to regionals. This whole season, they've been thinking top-4, top-4, top-4," Kushiyama said. "They've done a really great job of being able to run together as a pack and find strength in that, so that's what they did today."
 
Moore finished her 6000 meters in 23:16.0. Along with her 12th-place spot, the Loggers had three more in the top 25 and one just outside of it. Junior Erin Schmidlin was 16th in 23:30.2, freshman Samantha Palm was 18th in 23:47.4, and junior Lydia Cocciolone was 22nd in 24:08.0. Senior Ella Courtnage-Dyke completed the scoring in 26th with a time of 24:22.3.
 
"Our top four athletes performed like they needed to, and our 5-6-7 runners really came through at the end," Kushiyama said. "I'm extremely proud and very happy with their performances. We have a solid five who are training together all the time, and if someone is having an off day, that's OK – one of your teammates will step up."
 
Puget Sound had a trio of freshmen among its five scorers the men's race. Noah Larsen was 23rd in 26:47.1, Noah Brown was 42nd in 27:44.9, and Leo Aslakson was 49th in 28:00.4. Tdohasan Sunray, a junior, was right in between them, 47th in 27:53.7.
 
"I'm extremely proud of the men. We've been battling some injuries, so I think our group of freshmen and sophomores, we're really young, and they really stepped up and came through for the team," Kushiyama said. "Maybe not quite place-wise what we wanted, but we have a good base to build on going forward for the next two years."