Lutes Hope to Dodge the Sun this Saturday

THIS WEEK: Pacific Lutheran competes at the 18th Annual Sundodger Cross Country Invitational hosted by the University of Washington and held at Lincoln Park in Seattle. The opening race, the women's 6000 meter, is scheduled for 9 a.m., followed by the men's 8000 meter at 9:45 a.m.

PLU FINISHES IN MIDDLE OF THE PACK: Pacific Lutheran runners finished in the middle of the pack in their respective races at last Saturday's Lewis & Clark Invitational cross country meet held at McIver State Park in Estacada, Ore. "The extreme fall heat took a drastic toll on all of the teams," said PLU head coach Heather Kreier. "Many athletes were ill or collapsed after the men's competition. Our young team fared well under the extreme conditions and we had four season PRs for both the men's and women's squads. We hope to tighten up the spread the next few weeks."

MEN FINISH SIXTH AT LEWIS & CLARK INVITATONAL: Junior John Phillips placed 22nd overall to lead the Pacific Lutheran men to a sixth-place finish out of 12 teams at the Phillips finished the 8000-meter course in a time of 26:55.1. Rounding out the top five PLU finishers were Orion Bras, 28th in 27:07.7, Sean Andrascik, 30th in 27:09.4, Alex Martin, 66th in 28:39.8, and Kolter Grigsby, 71st in 28:48.4. Western Oregon won with 51 points, followed by Linfield with 71, Concordia 77, Whitman 118, Lewis & Clark 120 and then PLU with 175.

WOMEN SEVENTH AT L&C: On the women's side, Suzy Olsen finished 14th overall as the Lutes placed seventh out of 11 teams. Olsen clocked 23:49.1 over the 6000-meter course. Rounding out the top five for the PLU women were Mary Wuest, 33rd in 24:54.1, Katie Gebert, 34th in 24:75.3, Erica Johnson, 47th in 25:39.7, and Chiara Rose-Witt, 54th in 25:58.3. Whitman easily won the women's event with 35 points, followed by Lewis & Clark with 60, Linfield 88, Northwest Christian 113, Concordia 120, Western Oregon 127 and PLU 151.

SUNDODGER NEXT: One week after running in hot weather, the Lutes wouldn't mind dodging the sun this coming Saturday when they race at the Sundodger Invitational at Seattle's Lincoln Park. "This will be a fast course and we anticipate many season PRs for our Lutes," Coach Kreier said. The Lutes will have full squads with 19 women and 16 men competing.   

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