WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Running her best time of the season, Oni Ogsbury of
Whitman College placed fourth in the women's 5,000 meters to capture all-conference honors
at the Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges (NCIC) cross country championships on
Saturday, Nov. 2, in Salem, Oregon.As expected, the University of Puget Sound (UPS) won the conference team title to earn an automatic berth to the NAIA national championships, scheduled for Nov. 16 in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Ogsbury, a senior from Boulder, Colorado, qualified for nationals as an individual by placing among the top five finishers not on the winning team. Based on that standard, Whitman's Emily Anderson just missed qualifying as individual. Anderson, a senior from Fort Collins, Colorado, placed 10th overall and had the sixth-best time among runners not on the winning team.
Ogsbury will not head to nationals alone, however. Based on its NAIA national ranking, Whitman was one of the ten women's teams from around the country who received at-large berths to the national championships. Whitman was ranked as high as No. 6 this fall and finished the regular season at No. 14.
Whitman's other representatives at nationals, in addition to Ogsbury and Anderson, will be junior Melissa Thorne (Beaverton, OR), sophomore Faye Hutchison (Snohomish WA), and freshmen Taylor Dale (Crested Butte CO), Kitty Rasmussen (Seattle WA) and Elisa Bobnes (McMinnville OR).
This will mark the fifth straight the Whitman women's team has competed at nationals. The Missionaries placed sixth three times and fifth once.
Pacific Lutheran University's Tanya Robinson won Saturday's individual NCIC title in a 5,000 meters time of 17:59.38. Ogsbury was timed in 18:17.98, while Anderson logged her season-best time, 18:40.19. Other times and places for Whitman runners in the NCIC championships were Thorne, 26th, 19:27.09; Dale, 33rd, 19:41.54; Rasmussen, 44th, 20:15.22; Hutchison, 53rd, 20:31.15; and Bobnes, 64th, 20:59.38.
As a team, the Whitman women placed fourth in a nine-team field. A total of 79 runners competed.
Whitman's Dorothy Metcalf, a senior from Fort Collins, Colorado, missed Saturday's NCIC championships with a season-ending back injury. Metcalf, who competed at nationals in each of her first three seasons at Whitman, was an Academic All-American last season.
In the men's 8,000 meters at the NCIC championships Saturday, Whitman's Ezra Ellis missed out on his bid for an individual berth to national. Running this fall for the first time since a severe ankle injury sidelined him two years ago, Ellis finished 18th in a field of 73 runners at the Northwest Conference championships.
Ellis, a junior from Spokane, Wash., was timed in 26:22.51. Whitman's next best finisher was David Toomey (Santa Rosa CA), who placed 25th in 26:46.14.
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 to capture the team title with 36 points. Whitman's injury-riddled squad placed sixth. 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 (Federal Way WA), 30th, 27:03.38; Brett Kmiec (Bellingham WA), 46th, 27:58.89; Sean Menton (Claremont CA), 47th, 28:00.55; Kelli Kotubetey (Kailua HI), 56th, 28:44.35; Dan Moore (Morrison CO), 57th, 29:01.44; and Shane Dennis (Billings MT), 68th, 30:52.74.