Senior forward Claire Morgan scored the winning goal in the 106th minute as Western Washington University edged Chico State University, 2-1 in overtime, in a non-conference women's soccer game Thursday at University Soccer Stadium. The contest, which was played in 97-degree heat, was the season opener for both teams.

A bit of NCAA history will move closer to reality this weekend - and it will not occur within the United States. Soccer, women's volleyball and football teams from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, begin the 2010 season in their second year of Division II candidacy. When the process is complete at least two years from now, Simon Fraser will be the first institution from outside the U.S. and its territories to complete as a full-fledged NCAA member.

The 2010 cross country season begins for seven of the 10 Great Northwest Athletic Conference teams this week in meets at Fairbanks, Billings, Bellingham and Honolulu. Western Washington, which is the defending GNAC men's champion, opens its season at home in the Lake Padden Relays. Western Oregon and a partial team from Seattle Pacific will also compete. The Falcons will also send athletes to Fairbanks to compete in a pair of meets on Thursday and Saturday along with Northwest Nazarene and host Alaska Fairbanks.

Three preseason top 10 nationally ranked teams are among the four opponents Western Washington University faces this weekend as it opens the 2010 volleyball campaign at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Challenge. Matches will be played at host Western Oregon in Monmouth, Ore., and at Central High School in Independence, Ore. The Vikings begin play Friday at 10 a.m. against Metro State CO, rated No.10 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Poll. They face Humboldt State that evening at 8 p.m. On Saturday, Western meets No.8 UC San Diego at 10 a.m.

There's a buzz in the air around the Western Washington volleyball program this season and sophomore Marlayna Geary can hardly wait to get things started. She rubs her hands together like an excited child and her eyes grow wide while she talks about the Vikings potential this year.

Western Washington University seniors Bennett Grimes, Blake Medhaug and Jordan Welling have come a long ways together. Not just literally with the hundreds and hundreds of miles they have run together during training, practice and competition, but also figuratively in terms of how far they've helped carry the Vikings' men's cross country program during the past three years.

Kellan Brown's sophomore season was a breakout. After scoring 10 goals and notching five assists for the Western Washington men's soccer team, he was honored as a first-team all-Great Northwest Athletic Conference pick and named to the West Region first team. But Brown said he'd trade it all for one thing.

Peanut butter and jelly. Batman and Robin. The pick and roll. Where you find one, you'll usually find the other. And for roughly a decade, where Claire Morgan has played on a soccer field, so has Molly Shannon. The two have coexisted - and thrived - in similar, sweet harmony, too. The duo's days of bowling over opponents with their brand of double trouble dates back to youth soccer with the Whatcom Rangers, and continued through stellar prep careers at Bellingham High School. This fall, Morgan and Shannon will team up once again - and quite possibly for the last time.

With five All-Americans among the eight runners back from the 14 it took to the NCAA Division II National Championships last fall, Western Washington University is looking for a third straight Top 10 national finish by both its men's and women's cross country teams this fall. Last year at nationals, the Vikings enjoyed the finest harrier day in school history as the men placed fourth and the women eighth, the best NCAA finish by either squad since the school became a member in 1998. Both teams finished 10th at nationals in 2008, and the men were 11th in 2007.

Three Great Northwest Athletic Conference cross country teams are ranked in the Top 10 in the USTFCCCA pre-season national polls. Coach Pee Wee Halsell's Western Washington men's and women's squads are ranked sixth and seventh, respectively.

Seattle Pacific has made seven consecutive NCAA Division II women's soccer playoff appearances, and there doesn't appear to be any reason the six-time GNAC champions (2002-05, 2008 & 2009) won't make it eight this fall. The Falcons return eight starters including a league-best four first-team all-stars off last year's team that edged Western Washington by one point for the conference title. Chuck Sekyra, who has guided his teams to a phenomenal 134-14-12 record over the past seven seasons is optimistic the Falcons will once again be playing well into November.

Just about every men's soccer team in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference has high hopes and expectations entering the 2010 season that begins next Thursday (Sept. 2). A year ago, Saint Martin's won its first-ever GNAC team championship in the nine-year history of the conference --- in any sport. With virtually every player returning including eight all-stars the Saints figured to be the favorite in the GNAC's pre-season coaches poll. And they are. But they are certainly not a sure thing. A year ago, the top four teams in the conference race were separated by just two games.

Alaska Anchorage returns four starters from last year's NCAA Division II Regional semifinalists and Western Washington has everyone back from its team that barely missed the playoffs a year ago. Those two squads figure to fight it out this fall for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball championship. Each team received four first-place votes in the GNAC Coaches poll though the Vikings, who are seeking a fifth GNAC title, outpointed the Seawolves 72-67 in the overall balloting.

Former Western Washington University and Bellingham Slam basketball player Derrick Webb is taking his talents overseas. The 23-year-old guard is headed to Europe to compete with the Licher Bears in Germany's second division.

The Western Washington University men's soccer team can count on experience as it chases a post-season berth in the 2010 season. The Vikings, who were 8-11-1 overall and finished second in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference at 5-3 in 2009, have frequently been contenders for the GNAC title, winning the crown in 2008, but have never reached the West Regional of the NCAA Division II National Tournament. A total of 14 players who saw regular action last season return, meaning the Vikings have at least one experienced player at every position, and in many cases more than that.

Led by a dynamic pair of experienced forwards and an all-region defender, the Western Washington University women's soccer team will chase a return to the West Regional of the NCAA Division II National Tournament this fall that narrowly eluded the Vikings last season. The Vikings, who reached the regional final in 2008, narrowly missed out on another post-season berth in 2009 when a tie in the final week of the season left them short of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship and automatic tournament berth.

Former Western Washington University women's basketball player Jessica Summers has signed a contract to play for the GDESSA club team in Barreiro, Portugal. She will leave at the end of September and return in April.

Men's golfer Dylan Goodwin, who lettered one year at the University of Washington, is transferring to Western Washington University this fall. Making that announcement was Viking coach Steve Card. A 6-foot, 145-pound sophomore, Goodwin played in two tournaments for the Huskies, tying for 35th place at the Husky Invitational during the 2008-09 season when he received a medical redshirt and tying for 45th place at the Palouse Collegiate during the 2009-10 campaign. In six competitive rounds at Washington, Goodwin averaged 76.0 strokes.

The Western Washington University women's rowing program will host a reunion and celebration on Saturday, Oct. 23, at Carver Gymnasium as part of Fall Family Weekend on the WWU campus. Family, alumni and friends of Viking rowing are celebrating 10 years of NCAA championship regatta success. Western has won the last six NCAA Division II national titles after placing second twice, third once and fourth once. The six straight championships are the most by any school in any division of the NCAA.

The inaugural class of inductees for the Snohomish County Sports Hall of Fame has been announced and it includes a generational and gender spectrum of the county's best and brightest all-time athletic stars. Eleven individuals and two teams comprise the class, which will be formally inducted in September and then enshrined in a permanent display at the Comcast Arena.