INDEPENDENCE, Ore. — Owen Ladinig and Kai Sorensen both logged top 25 finishes, powering the Pacific Lutheran University men's cross country squad to a seventh place finish on Saturday at the 2024 Northwest Conference Championships. 
 
Ladinig ran a consistent race on the 8,000-meter layout on the Oak Knoll Golf Course. The senior was 18thafter 1K of racing and was 18th at the 6K mark on his way to finishing 18th overall in 25 minutes, 29.6 seconds. 

Sorensen was six spots back in 24th, running a personal best time of 25:52.2. Daniel Zimmer was the third Lute in the finisher's chute, placing 54th in 27:41.3 after moving up eight spots over the final 7K of the race. 
 
Collin Beyer was 61st overall in 28:00.8 while Corban Piper rounded out the scoring five, finishing 66th in an 8K personal best time of 28:30.0. 

"Our men's team did a great job holding off a hard charging Pacific and Linfield. Kai finally put together the performance that we both knew he was capable of to run with guys who were scoring in the 5k during track at conference. For a true 800 runner, that really shows the strength and determination that Kai brings to his running," said Head Coach Jacob Wahlenmaier.

"I want to give a shout out to Daniel as well. When I shouted to Daniel that he needed to catch a certain runner to keep us in the running, he reeled them in and left them in the dust. Those two ran inspiring performances today."
 
The Lutes tallied 192 points in the team standings, finishing seventh overall and just eight points back of sixth place Willamette University. 
 
George Fox University earned the team title with 28 points with Whitworth University taking second billing with a score of 74. Whitman College was third with 90 points followed by the University of Puget Sound with 121 points. Pacific University was 14 spots back of the Lutes in eighth while Linfield University was ninth with 217 points. 

Austin Gappa of George Fox was the individual champion, navigating the course in 24:31.4, winning the title by a comfortable nine second margin. 
 
Pacific Lutheran laces up the spikes in two weeks, returning to Oregon for the NCAA Division III West Region Championships on Nov. 16 in Portland.