With her teammate, close friend and two-time defending conference champion Jessica Bissonnette sidelined by injury, Gibson won the women's 5,000-kilometer race in a career-best time of 18:13. Rolfe won the men's 8,000-kilometer race in 25:17, also a career-best time.
With Bissonnette watching from the sidelines, the Whitman women's team was unable to capture a third straight conference team title. Pacific Lutheran won the women's title with 54 points, followed by George Fox College with 62 points and Whitman with 80 points.
Also placing for the Whitman women were Emily Anderson in sixth, Dorothy Metcalf in 15th, Melissa Thorne in 24th, and Faye Hutchison in 40th. Tanya Brown was 44th, Koren Bell 52nd, and Kelly Pointer 64th.
The Whitman men's team, a conference co-champion last year, placed fifth in the eight-team field. Others placing for Whitman included Curtis Steinback in 21st, David Toomey in 27th, Matt Long in 33rd and Ed Harri in 37th. Also running for Whitman were Derek Hayner (40th), Jeff Stratton (41st), Jesse Philo (42nd), Doug Pierson (45th) and Brett Kmiec (54th).
Gibson, a Whitman senior and 1992 graduate of Beaverton (OR) High School, will lead the Whitman women's team to the NAIA national championships on Saturday, Nov. 18, in Parkside, Wisconsin. Rolfe, a Whitman junior and 1993 graduate of Sentinel High School in Missoula, Montana, High School, will compete at nationals as an individual.
The Whitman women's team will make its fourth consecutive appearance at the national championships. It placed fifth at nationals last fall, one notch higher than its finish the two previous seasons.
This fall, the Whitman women were ranked as high as No. 2 in the NAIA national coaches poll until Bissonnette's season was interrupted a month ago by a stress fracture. Bissonnette, a Whitman senior and 1992 graduate of St. Mary's Academy in Portland, is a three-time NAIA cross country All-American who placed 11th in last year's national championships.
Bissonnette, who plans to run in this year's national championships, has been training the past month on a stationary bicycle and in the Whitman swimming pool. A NAIA national track champion last spring in the 3,000 meters, Bissonnette had been considered one of the favorites in this fall's cross country championships until her stress fracture developed.
Gibson, who has battled chronic asthma problems in recent years, made her best showing in the NAIA cross country championships as a freshmen. She placed 24th that season to earn All-American honors. She placed 36th at nationals last season.
Rolfe's time at nationals last November was 25:44, which is the fastest time a Whitman runner has ever registered on the national championship course in Parkside. Whitman coach Keith Jensen said Rolfe has an excellent chance to lower that time and place in the top 30 in this Saturday's race.
"Alex has continued to get stronger and stronger during his three seasons at Whitman," Jensen said. "His high school times indicated he could be a good runner for us, but it's difficult to predict how much a runner will improve. He has worked extremely hard. Alex also is a very intelligent runner."
Last May, Rolfe broke his own school record and placed seventh in the 10,000 meters at the NAIA Track & Field national championships in Azusa, Calif.