A Pair of 20th-Place Finishes for PLU Thinclads
SALEM, Ore. - It was a carbon copy finish for the Pacific Lutheran cross country program as both the men's and women's teams finished 20th in their divisions at the Charles Bowles Invitational held Saturday at Bush's Pasture Park.
The Lutes men were 20th out of 23 teams in the 8K Cardinal Race won by the University of Portland with 25 points. PLU was able to judge where it stood compared to the rest of the Northwest Conference as all nine teams competed in the race. Willamette (fifth), Whitworth (10th), Lewis & Clark (13th), Linfield (14th) and Whitman (15th) all finished well ahead of PLU, while Puget Sound (19th) scored 545 points to finish one spot ahead of the Lutes and their 576 points. Pacific was 21st, followed by George Fox in 22nd.
Alan DenAdel once again led the Lutes, placing 112th overall in a time of 26:19.83, followed by John Phillips, 134th in 26:45.83. Rounding out the top five were Sean Andrascik, 157th in 27:21.26, Nathaniel Allen-Slaba, 171st in 27:40.20, and Alex Martin, 173rd in 27:41.89.
In the women's 5K Cardinal Race, which consisted of 24 teams, the finish order of conference schools was similar to the men's division. Whitworth (seventh), Lewis & Clark (ninth), Willamette (12th) and Whitman (15th), all finished well ahead of PLU, which was within 29 points of Linfield (17th) and Puget Sound (19th). Finishing behing the Lutes were Pacific (23rd) and George Fox (24th).
The top five finishers for the Lutes were Suzy Olsen, 96th in 19:13.75, Katie Gebert, 97th in 19:15.17, Erinn Kuest, 144th in 19:59.31, Erica Johnson, 155th in 20:06.19, and Allison Young, 163rd in 20:13.68.
The Lutes return to action next Saturday when they host the PLU Invitational starting at 10 a.m. on University Golf Course.
- PLU -
