Results

INDEPENDENCE, Ore. — Noah Friedrich and Justin Garrett led the way for the Pacific Lutheran University men's cross country squad on Saturday at the Northwest Conference Championships at Oak Knoll Golf Course.

"Conference championships are so tricky for coaches. It's really tempting for me to fixate on places and lose sight of the tremendous progress that all of the Lutes have made this season," said Head Coach Francis Reynolds.
 
" I'm chuffed to bits that Noah ran a seasonal best in his last NWC championships. Justin had another great race and I'm excited for him to break 27 minutes in his next 8K. I also want to commend Jonah running a focused race in his last NWC championships. Again, I'm overall pleased with today's performances and am excited with the direction the program is headed."

Friedrich was the top Lute finisher, cruising around the 8,000-meter course in a season-best time of 26 minutes, 38.3 seconds to place 50th overall. That effort was almost a full minute than his previous 8K best, clocked at the PLU Invitational (27:35.7) back in September. 

Justin Garrett was close behind, finishing 59th in a personal best effort of 27:02.9. Garret's time was nearly 10 seconds faster than his previous 8K time set two weeks ago on the same course at the George Oja Invitational. 

Corban Piper was 66th in 27:45.3 with Isaiah Bradley close behind in 71st with a time of 28.11.0. Jonah Andrews clocked a 29:12.3 to finish 78th with Caleb Rigney hot on his heels, collecting a PR finish of 29:20.1.
 
The Lutes finished ninth overall in the team standings, scoring 262 points. George Fox University won the race with a score of 46, besting runner-up Whitworth University by 22 points. Whitworth's London Haley won the individual title, navigating the course in 24:00.6.