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| Oni Ogsbury | Emily Anderson | Taylor Dale |
With senior Josh Carney placing 12th in a field of 69 runners, Whitman took third place in the men's NAIA/Community College division.
As expected, two NCAA schools, Washington State and Gonzaga University, dominated the individual placings in both races. Seven WSU women placed in the top 12, including the No. 2 through No. 6 slots. WSU's Eric Kamau won the men's 8,000 meters in 27:004, while two of his teammates finished third and fourth.
Gonzaga's Francesca Fairbanks won the women's 5,000 meters in 18:16. Whitman's Ogsbury was ninth in 19:28.8. Also placing in the top 20 for Whitman were senior Emily Anderson, 15th, 19:47.9; freshman Eliza Bobnes, 17th, 20:02.4; and Faye Hutchison, 18th, 20:06.3.
Other Whitman finishers were freshman Kitty Rasmussen, 25th, 20:43.4; Melissa Thorne, 26th, 20:43.9; Dorothy Metcalf, 27th, 20:46; Becky Thiebes, 38th, 21:34.8; Taylor Dale, 41st, 21:37.7; Koren Bell, 50th, 22:25.4; and Caroline Christy, 51st, 22:33.7.
The Whitman women won the small-school division with 30 points. North Idaho College was second with 51 points, followed by George Fox University with 62 and Eastern Oregon State College with 123. Washington State won the women's two-team NCAA division with 20. Gonzaga trailed with 41 points.
Whitman's Carney was 12th in the men's race in a time of 28:12.8. Also placing well for the Whitman men were David Toomey, 21st, 28:38.1; Jesse Philo, 26th, 29:01.6; Ezra Ellis, 29th, 29:18.7; Brett Kmiec, 31st, 29:26.3; and Derek Hayner, 33rd, 29:36.3.
Other runners for Whitman were freshman Sean Menton, 42nd, 30:09.3; Daniel Moore, 49th, 30:33; Thom Heermance, 57th, 31:11.7; freshman Keliihonui Kotubetey, 64th, 31:56.3; freshman Shane Dennis, 68th, 33:42.3; and freshman Benny Kallay, 69th, 35:48.6
Clackamas Community College, which has a strong cross country program, won the men's small-school division with 41 points, edging George Fox University by three points. Whitman was third with 80 points, followed by Eastern Oregon with 103 and North Idaho College with 115.
Two Whitman runners missed the invitational due to illness or injury. Whitman coach Keith Jensen expects both runners, freshman Miriam Jaffee and sophomore Douglas Pierson, to return and make key contributions.
Whitman was led by Oni Ogsbury, who placed 27th in a field of 128 runners. Her time over the 3.1-mile course was 19:49.81. Emily Anderson was 32nd in a time of 20:01.48. The University of Oregon's Marie Davis won the race in 18:14.37.
Others running for the Whitman women were Melissa Thorne, 47th, 20:25.11; Faye Hutchison, 56th, 20:37.23; Kitty Rasmussen, 60th, 20:42.28; Caroline Christy, 93rd, 21:56.19; Taylor Dale, 95th, 22:02.30; and Koren Bell, 115th, 23:32.98.
Two of Whitman's top runners, senior Dorothy Metcalf and freshman Elisa Bobness, missed the race due to medical reasons.
The University of Oregon won the women's NCAA Div. I competition with 26 points. Washington State was second and Portland State third.
Both Josh Carney, the team's No. 1 runner, and Jesse Philo missed the race due to leg injuries.
Others running for Whitman were Sean Menton, 99th, 28:38; Dan Moore, 109th, 29:14; Kellii Kotubetey, 122nd, 30:19; Cory Root, 123rd, 30:21; Shane Dennis, 131st, 31:59; and Benny Kallay, 135th, 32:50.
Spokane Community College won the small-school competition with 56 points. The University of Portland took top honors in the NCAA Div. 1 scoring, edging Oklahoma State. Christian Nicholsen, running for Oklahoma, won the race in 24:23.
Running unattached, Lisa Karnopp won the race in 16:55.53. Kathleen Gibson and Jessica Bissonnette, who graduated from Whitman last spring, placed second and third.
Whitman also got good performances from Faye Hutchison, who finished 39th, 13th among conference runners, in 19:25.13, and freshman Kitty Rasmussen, who was timed in 20:00.63 and placed 76th overall in a field of 202 runners. Also running for Whitman were Melissa Thorne (20:19) and Dorothy Metcalf (20:57). Freshman Elisa Bobness missed the invitational with a foot injury.
Pacific Lutheran placed first in the women's team standings with 69 points, finishing well ahead of Portland State University's 103 points. Seattle University was third, North Idaho Community College fourth and host Willamette fifth. The Whitman women finished in sixth with 191 points, 15 points back of Willamette.
Looking ahead to the conference championships, Whitman coach Keith Jensen notes that defending national champ Puget Sound is a lock for the team title. Jensen expects PLU to take second, with the Whitman and Willamette women battling it out for third place. "Elisa Bobness might be able to run again in two weeks, and she makes a big difference in our team scoring," Jensen said. A strong showing at the conference championships might well earn the Whitman women an at-large berth at the NAIA national meet.
Whitman's Ezra Ellis, running this fall for the first time since a severe injury ended his running career at Stanford University, placed 62nd overall in a field of 257 runners. His time was 26:27.48, and he placed 18th among conference runners.
"Ezra keeps getting better and better," Whitman coach Keith Jensen said. "But it's been two years since he ran competitively, and it's not something you can do all at once. He's still on track to possibly qualify for nationals as an individual."
Whitman's top runner, Alex Rolfe, is missing the season because of injury, and Jensen said his next best runner, Josh Carney, may also be lost for the season. Jensen is more hopeful that sophomore Jesse Philo will return in time for the conference championships. "This has been the year of the injuries for the Whitties," he said. "We've never had so many injuries to our top runners before."
The men's 8,000 meters was won by Lane Community College's Billy Harper in 24:14.36. Pacific Lutheran won the men's team title, followed by Willamette in third, George Fox in eighth and Linfield in 10th.
Others running for Whitman were Derek Harper, 97th, 27:03.56; David Toomey, 103rd, 27:09.18; Sean Menton, 138th, 27:52.91; Daniel Moore, 28:40.72; Cory Root, 201st, 29:38.59; Kellii Kotubetey, 208th, 29:53.81; Benny Kallay, 234th, 31:04.07; and Shane Dennis, 253rd, 33:49.77.
Also running for the Whitman women were Melissa Thorne, who was ninth in 13:24.36, and Dorothy Metcalf, who was 15th in 14:22.42.
David Toomey gave the Missionaries their best finish Saturday, placing fifth in 22:43.3. Also placing in the top 10 for Whitman were Brett Kmiec, 7th, 23:46.56; Sean Menton, 8th, 24:06.21; and Kellii Kotubetey, 9th, 24:43.11.
Others running for the Whitman men were Shane Dennis, 12th, 25:52.13, and Benny Kallay, 13th, 27:05.87.
"It was a tough, muddy course, so that benefited us," Whitman coach Keith Jensen said. "But we're coming along just fine. Hopefully we can use the next few weeks to get everyone healthy and ready to go."
Seniors Oni Ogsbury and Emily Anderson ran well, placing seventh and tenth, respectively. Among conference runners, Ogsbury placed first in a time of 19:19.4 and Anderson was third in 19:33.2. "Both Oni and Emily are running very well right now," Jensen said. "Oni also was really hurting last week. She had severe cramps in one of her calf muscles."
Faye Hutchison placed 18th overall in 19:49.3. She was ninth among conference runners. "Faye keeps getting better, and she's really a tough competitor," Jensen said.
Whitman's Melissa Thorne placed 31st overall, followed by first-year runners Kitty Rasmussen in 43rd (20:59.8), Taylor Dale in 47th (21:10.1) and Elisa Bobness in 54th (21:25.5). "That was a good race for Elisa," Jensen said. "She's been injured and hasn't run since the first meet of the season. Taylor Dale also is starting to run well now."
"It was a good meet for the women, but I think we can still do better at the conference championships," Jensen added. "What we need is for our No. 4 and No. 5 runners to finish closer to our top three."
Two recent Whitman graduates and former cross country standouts, Kathleen Gibson and Jessica Gibson, placed first and second, respectively. Gibson's winning time was 18:35. Bissonnette was timed in 18:36.2.
The race attracted 10 teams and 109 runners.
"Ezra continues, week by week, to move up on the top runners in the conference, and he's such a tough competitor once a race starts," Whitman coach Keith Jensen said. "If he continues to improve, he could qualify for nationals as an individual."
George Fox won the men's team competition with 44 points. Willamette was next with 51 points, followed by Linfield in third with 86 points, Pacific Lutheran's B team in fourth with 121 points and Whitman in fifth with 137 points. The meet attracted nine full teams and 96 runners.
Also placing for Whitman were David Toomey, 26th, 27:27.5; Derek Hayner, 35th, 27:49.5; Sean Menton, 47th, 28:15.1; Brett Kmiec, 48th, 28:16.6; Daniel Moore, 65th, 29:06.8; Keliihonui Kotubetey, 68th, 29:21.0; Shane Dennis, 85th, 31:19.7; Benny Kallay, 88th, 31:56.6.
As expected, defending NAIA national champion University of Puget Sound (UPS) won the team title to gain an automatic berth to this year's national championships. Ogsbury qualified for nationals as an individual because she was among the top five finishers not on the winning team. Based on that standard, Anderson just missed qualifying as individual; she had the sixth-best time not counting runners from UPS.
Ogsbury will not to head to nationals alone, however. Based on its NAIA national ranking, Whitman was one of the ten teams from around the country who received at an-large berth. The national championships are set for Saturday, Nov. 16, in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Whitman's other representatives at nationals, in addition to Ogsbury and Anderson, will be junior Melissa Thorne, sophomore Faye Hutchison, and freshmen Taylor Dale, Kitty Rasmussen and Elisa Bobnes.
Pacific Lutheran's Tanya Robinson won Saturday's individual conference title in a 5,000 meters time of 17:59.38. Ogsbury, who was fourth in a time of 18:17.98, was sandwiched between a group of four UPS runners. The top seven runners earned all-conference honors.
Whitman's Anderson placed tenth in a time 18:40.19. Others competing for Whitman were Melissa Thorne, 26th, 19:27.09; Taylor Dale, 33rd, 19:41.54; Kitty Rasmussen, 44th, 20:15.22; Faye Hutchison, 53rd, 20:31.15; and Elisa Bobnes, 64th, 20:59.38. A total of 79 runners competed.
UPS won the team title with 26 points. Pacific Lutheran was second with 56 points. Willamette, running on its home course, finished with 97 points to edge out Whitman and its 111 points.
With Jon Westerman winning the event in 25:08.36, the University of Puget Sound swept the top three places and four of the first five and captured the team title with 36 points. Pacific Lutheran also placed four runners in the top 10 and finished second as a team with 41 points. Willamette was third, followed in order by George Fox, Linfield, Whitman, Lewis & Clark, Pacific and Whitworth.
Whitman had expected to challenge for a berth to the national championships, but lost three of its top runners to injury during the season.
Others placing for Whitman in Saturday's event were Derek Hayner, 30th, 27:03.38; Brett Kmiec, 46th, 27:58.89; Sean Menton, 47th, 28:00.55; Kelli Kotubetey, 56th, 28:44.35; Dan Moore, 57th, 29:01.44; and Shane Dennis, 68th, 30:52.74.
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| Oni Ogsbury | Emily Anderson | Taylor Dale |
Hopes of cracking the top 10 at the NAIA National Championships for a fifth consecutive year fell by the wayside as the Whitman women's team, hampered by nagging late-season injuries and fair weather (of all things), finished in 20th place on Saturday, Nov. 16, in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Given the nature of his team, which relies on strength, stamina and strategy rather than sheer foot speed, Whitman coach Keith Jensen had hoped for foul weather and a sloppy rather than fast track for Saturday's championship event. "The weather was bad on Friday -- it was cold, windy and wet," he said. "By Saturday morning, though, the weather was just beautiful. It was 45 degrees, sunny and no wind."
The women's field, which included 339 runners from 35 schools, took full advantage of Wisconsin's unusually mild weather. Nearly half of the pack -- 165 runners in all -- finished the 5,000-meter course in under 20 minutes. A year ago, less than 70 runners accomplished that feat with their feet.
Simon Fraser's Cari Rampersad won the race in 17:14 to lead her school to the national team title. Whitman's best finish came from senior Oni Ogsbury, who placed 39th in a time of 18:47, just 10 seconds out of the 30th spot. The top 30 runners earn All-American honors.
Running for the fourth time at nationals, Ogsbury recorded her best-ever time. Her placing (34th) was higher in 1994 but her time was slower (19:13) that year.
Whitman's other senior, Emily Anderson, also had a good race, placing 43rd in a time of 18:50. A four-time competitor at nationals, Anderson also ran her best-ever national time and matched her best previous placing from 1994.
"As they have all season, Oni and Emily ran hard and well," Jensen said. "A year ago, their times would have earned them All-American honors."
While Ogsbury and Anderson ran well enough to keep Whitman in the top 10, scoring from the remainder of the team suffered due to health problems or simple inexperience. Senior Dorothy Metcalf, a three-time national competitor who placed 84th last year, missed this year's race because of injury. Melissa Thorne, a junior who placed 100th last year, struggled with a case of the flu and slipped all the way to 253rd this year in a time of 20:44.
Faye Hutchison, a sophomore who placed 130th last season, has been slowed this fall by leg problems and finished 213th on Saturday in a time of 20:26.
Whitman's two healthy freshmen ran well in their first trip to nationals, Jensen said. Taylor Dale broke the 20-minute mark, placing 147th in 19:52, while Kitty Rasmussen finished 198th in 20:18. A third Missionary freshman, Elisa Bobnes, who missed much of the season with a foot injury, ran a 20:48 to place in the 262nd spot.