While Whitman's Sierra Witnov was placing ninth in the women's race, a balanced Missionary men's team ran to a strong fifth-place showing in Saturday's Lewis & Clark Invitational at McIver Park near Estacada, Ore. It was the first competition of the season for the Whitman cross country runners.
Witnov, a sophomore, ran the women's 6,000 meters in 23 minutes, 43.4 seconds, finishing less than nine seconds out of fifth place.
Whitman's Braden Burkholder, a junior, placed 22nd in a field of 97 runners in the men's 8,000 meters. His time was 27.44.5.
As a team, the Whitman men finished fifth among 11 schools. The top five Missionary runners totaled 157 place points.
"I was happy with how we ran today, especially the men's team as a whole," Whitman coach Carol Feezell said. "The men beat all of the Northwest Conference schools in today's meet, with the exception of Lewis & Clark."
The Whitman men also ran without senior Ryan Gold, who was on an academic field trip. "With Ryan, we'll be a stronger team yet," Feezell said. "The men should finish in the top half of the conference, which is always the goal."
Eastern Oregon dominated the men's race, sweeping six of the top seven individual places to finish with a first-place team score of 18 points. Western Oregon was a distant second with 58 points, followed by Lewis & Clark with 91 and Southern Oregon with 103. Teams placing behind Whitman were, in order, Pacific, California Lutheran, Oregon Tech, Cascade, Linfield and George Fox.
Eastern Oregon's Brian Crowl won the men's race in 25:40.5, beating teammate Alex McGladrey by 11 seconds.
Rounding out Whitman's top five, behind Burkholder, were a group of four sophomores. Conor Flynn placed 27th overall (28:02.0) and was followed by James Voelckers in 33rd (28:25.4), Pat Cade in 44th (29:03.6), and Mike Orcutt in 29:12.0.
Also running for the Whitman men were sophomore Miles Barrett in 68th place (30:13.9), sophomore Ryan Choi in 71st (30:23.7), and junior Chris Brewer in 78th (31:30.1).
Eastern Oregon also took first in the women's team scoring, although its margin of victory over Western Oregon was much small than on the men's side. The Eastern Oregon women finished with a first-place total of 61 points, followed by Western Oregon's 78. The next three spots were closely bunched with Southern Oregon at 103, Lewis & Clark at 108 and California Lutheran at 112.
Linfield and Pacific placed sixth and seventh, respectively, with 131 and 155 points. The Whitman women were eighth at 166 and George Fox ninth at an even 200.
Whitman ran without its top runner, senior Ariel Andrews, who got off to a late start in training and decided late this week not to compete this fall.
"Losing Ariel hurts, but I'm pleased with the group of women that we do have," Feezell said. "We need to keep them healthy, but we'll get stronger. The women's team has a lot of potential, even more than what they showed today, which was still pretty darn good."
After Witnov, junior Jeanne Knechtges had Whitman's next best showing. She placed 35th in 25:21.9. Sophomore Maureen FitzMaurice finished 41st in 25:39.7.
Sophomore Jenny Spears, running her first collegiate race, was 44th in 25:54.2. Junior Flo Larkin rounded out Whitman's top five, placing 51st in 26:44.0.
Also running their first collegiate races for the Missionaries were Harmony Paulsen, who was 67th in 28:12.4, and Katherine Magid, who was 72nd in 28:54.3.
In addition to Whitman and Lewis & Clark, the host school, teams competing from the Northwest Conference (NWC) were Linfield, Pacific and George Fox.
In the women's race, only one NWC runner placed higher than Whitman's Witnov. In the men's race, Burkholder gave the Missionaries the fourth-best NWC showing.
Sophomores Conor Flynn and Sierra Witnov ran personal-best times to give the Whitman cross country teams their best showings in Saturday's open races at the Sundodger Invitational in Seattle's Lincoln Park.
Witnov placed 24th among 215 competitors in the women's 5,000 meters, finishing the course in 18 minutes, 41 seconds. Her best time at that distance last season was 19:08. "That was an outstanding race for Sierra," Whitman coach Carol Feezell said.
Witnov had the third best time among Northwest Conference runners. Whitworth's Leslie Nelson placed 18th in 18:26, while Lewis & Clark's Sadie Grossman was 23rd in 18:38.
Emilie Mondor, running for Simon Fraser University, won the race in 16:05, finishing more than 90 seconds ahead of the runner-up.
With the exception of Saturday, the Missionary women will run their races this fall at 6,000 meters. Last week, Witnov ran a 23:43.4 at the longer distance.
The men's race Saturday was larger yet, with Flynn placing 116th among 248 runners in a time of 27:15.1 seconds. His best time last fall in the 8,000 meters was 27:31.2, which he clocked at the season-ending Northwest Conference championships. A week ago, Flynn opened the season with a time of 28:02.
Ahrlin Bauman, running for Team Athletics Northwest, won the men's race in 24:27.
Flynn and Witnov weren't the only Missionaries who ran personal-best times or showed significant improvement from the previous week, Feezell said.
"What I'm thrilled about is that every single person on the team, men and women, either ran a personal-best time or improved greatly from last week," Feezell said. "The only one who ran about the same as last week was Braden Burkholder, who had his achilles tendon tighten up during the race. He felt fine after the race, but he knows it slowed him down."
"With the exeption of Braden, every one ran hard today and felt great afterwards," Feezell added. "We're still training very hard, and we know we're all going to run faster. This was only our second race."
Burkholder, a junior, finished in 114th place in 27:36.9, about seven seconds faster than last week. Ryan Gold, a senior who did not run last season (or last week), finished 165th with a time of 28:00.6. "That was a great time for Ryan in his first race back," Feezell said. "That's a personal-best for him by more than a minute."
Sophomores James Voelckers and Pat Cade were right behind Gold at the finish line, placing 166th and 167th, respectively. Voelckers finished in 28:01.7 while Cade was timed in 28:02.1.
Also running for the Whitman men were Mike Orcutt, 186th, 28:30.6; Ryan Choi, 203rd, 29:00.5; and Miles Barrett, 223rd, 30:04.5.
Others running for the Whitman women included juniors Jeanne Knechtges, who placed 151st in 20:37, and Flo Larkin, who was 155th in 20:44. Also running for the Missionaries were first-year competitors Sarah McConnell, 189th, 21:43; Harmony Paulsen, 198th, 22:31; and Katherine Magid, 206th, 23:31.
Saturday's Sundodger open races were for smaller schools and club teams. The event also included "invitational" races for NCAA Div. I runners.
Sophomore Sierra Witnov placed fourth in the women's 5,000 meters while junior Braden Burkholder finished 14th in the men's 8,000 meters at Saturday's annual Big Cross Invitational near the Pasco, Wash., Airport.
Witnov was clocked in 19 minutes, 44 seconds -- an improvement of 58 seconds compared to her time on the same course last fall, when she placed 59th in a much larger field.
Burkholder's time Saturday was 27:54.
In the team scoring, the Missionary men's and women's squad both placed fourth among the four college teams competing. The men's team finished with 103 place points for its top five finishers, while the women totaled 94 points for their first five runners.
Northwest College won the women's race with 32 points. Whitworth was second with 48, followed by Eastern Oregon with 59.
Eastern Oregon was the top dog in the men's race with 19 points. Whitworth was second with 60, just one point ahead of Mt. Hood Community College.
Whitman coach Carol Feezell said her women's team lacks the depth to compete with Whitworth, the only other Northwest Conference school that competed in Saturday's Big Cross.
"I'm still pleased with the way our women ran individually," Feezell said. "Sierra had an awesome race and is on her way to an outstanding season. We have our sights set high for Sierra. We'd like to see her run at both regionals and nationals. The rest of our women ran strong, hard races today, which is exactly what they need to do at this point in the season."
As the season progresses, the Whitman men's team has a definite shot at catching Whitworth by the time the NWC championships take place, Feezell said. "You can compare the times and our men don't need to improve that much to compete with Whitworth. If we continue with the right training, and barring injury or illness, we have a legitimate shot to finish ahead of Lewis & Clark and Whitworth at the conference race. That would get us into the top four, and the entire men's team would go to regionals."
After Burkholder, Whitman's next four finishers Saturday were all sophomores. James Voelckers placed 27th in 29:01. Next in line were Conor Flynn, 31st, 29:15; Pat Cade, 34th, 29:25; and Mike Orcutt, 37th, 29:40.
Also running for the Whitman men were senior Ryan Gold, 39th, 29:58; sophomore Ryan Choi, 45th, 30:21; sophomore Miles Barrett, 49th, 31:21; and junior Chris Brewer, 51st, 32:17.
"Ryan didn't have a good race today," Feezell said. "He said that for some reason, his head just wasn't into the race. Ryan is someone who can and will do much better as the season goes on."
Sophomore Jenny Spears, running her first season of cross country, had Whitman's second-best time in the women's race. She placed 28th in 21:37.
Running third and fourth for the Missionaries were sophomore Mo FitzMaurice, who 32nd in 21:52, and junior Flo Larkin, who placed 36th 22:29. FitzMaurice whacked 82 seconds off her time from last year's Big Cross, while Larkin lowered her time by 84 seconds.
Others running for the Whitman women Saturday were freshman Sarah McConnell, 45th, 23:30; junior Erin Pollock, 51st, 26:23; and freshman Katherine Magid, 52nd, 26:24.
"I don't think we had any season-best times today, but that's because of the course," Feezell said. "The Big Cross is a tough, tough course. It's hilly and slow, and the footing is soft. It's true cross country running."
Sophomore Sierra Witnov continued to set the standard for Whitman's cross country teams on Saturday, placing fourth among Northwest Conference runners in the women's college race at the 28th annual Willamette Invitational in Salem, Ore.
Running 5,000 meters in a field of 319 runners, Witnov placed 49th in 18 minutes, 52.11 seconds. The women's college event, one of four races held Saturday, was for all NCAA Division II and Division III runners, as well as those runners from NAIA and junior colleges.
Brianna Carstensen of California's Azusa Pacific University won the women's college race in 17:44.50. The top runner from Whitman's Northwest Conference was Willamette's Kari Holbert, who placed 11th in 18:14.07.
The only other NWC runners to beat Whitman's Witnov were Sadie Grossman of Lewis & Clark, who was 44th in 18:48.37, and Katie Pierce of Willamette, who was 46th in 18:49.41.
"Sierra continues to show us that's she one of the top runners in our conference," Whitman coach Carol Feezell. "She finished strong today and ran a good race."
In the men's college race, sophomore Conor Flynn paced Whitman by running the 8,000 meters in 27:13.72, a personal-best time by about two seconds. Flynn placed 182nd in a field of 366 runners.
Chris Clancy of Warner Pacific won the men's college race in 24:17.86. Willamette's Aaron Young was second in 24:24.31.
Next in line for the Whitman men were senior Ryan Gold, who placed 223rd in 27:36.60, and junior Braden Burkholder, who was 231st in 27:48.36. "That was a personal-best time for Ryan by about 25 seconds," Feezell said.
Others running for Whitman were Pat Cade, 264th, 28:15.45; Mike Orcutt, 268th, 28:19.05; Chris Brewer, 342nd, 30:28.60; and Ryan Choi, 349th, 30:44.96. Brewer's time was a personal best.
Jenny Spears, a sophomore running her first season of cross country, had Whitman's second-best showing on the women's side. Spears placed 164th in 20:07.94
Jeanne Knechtges placed 177th for the Missionaries in 20:15.60, and Maureen Fitzmaurice clocked a personal-best time of 20:35.13 in placing 198th.
Also running for Whitman were Flo Larkin, 212th, 20:43.75; Sarah McConnell, 239th, 21:42.91; Harmony Paulsen, 275th, 22:45.70; Erin Pollock, 294th, 23:31.51; and Katherine Magid, 312th, 25:51.24. Pollock's time was her best ever.
"It was good to see some personal-best times, but we also had a lot of runners who didn't feel that strong today," Feezell said. "That's normal for this point in the season. We're still training very, very hard during the week, which takes its toll. After one more week of hard training, we'll start to taper so we can peak for the conference championships."
"We ran some good solid races today, but nothing like what I expect to see toward the end of the season," Feezell added. "We haven't yet tried to prepare for a fast race. We haven't done any speed work yet, or any finetuning. All we've done is lots of hard training. Once we decrease the volume and increase the speed work, things will start coming together for us."
Saturday's Willamette Invitational, the largest cross country meet on the West Coast, also included two "open" races for NCAA Div. I runners.
Braden Burkholder, Ryan Gold, Conor Flynn, Chris Brewer, and Sierra Witnov all poster personal bests on Saturday at the Pacific Lutheran Invitational in Tacoma, Wash.
Witnov continued her strong season, placing 8th in a field of 132 runners. Her time of 22 minutes, 22 seconds in the 6,000 meters was good enough for third place among Northwest Conference runners.
"Sierra ran outstanding," coach Carol Feezell said. "She continues to run strong and she has an excellent shot at nationals."
In the men's college race, Burkholder paced the Missionaries by running the 8000 meters in 26:24, good for 36th place. Conor Flynn placed 63rd in 27:00, Ryan Gold 81st in 27:28, and Pat Cade 98th in 27:53.
Also running for Whitman were James Voelckers, 100th, 27:59; Mike Orcutt, 113, 28:30; and Ryan Choi, 135, 29:13.
In the women's race, Jenny Spears followed up Witnov in 57th place, with time of 24:18. Jeanne Knechtges placed 63rd, 24:33; Flo Larkin 78th, 25:07; and Maureen Fitzmaurice 84th, 25:21. Mary Southwick placed 90th, 25:33; Sarah McConnell 104th, 26:13; and Katherine Magrid rounded out the Missionaries in 128th, 30:32.
"We were running tired today after a hard week of training," coach Feezell noted. "We're exactly where we want to be, and expect to run this course faster when we return in three weeks."
Running in their final meet before the Northwest Conference Championships, the Whitman women's and men's women's cross country teams placed fourth and sixth, respectively, in the Bigfoot Open, hosted Saturday by the Community Colleges of Spokane.
Sophomore Sierra Witnov again led the Missionary women's team, placing fifth in the 5,000 meters with a time of 19:13.6. Witnov was second among NWC runners, taking a back only to Whitworth junior Leslie Nelson, who won the race in 18:59.7.
In the men's 8,000 meters, junior Braden Burkholder paced the Missionaries, finishing 13th overall with a time of 26:49.2. Burholder was the top NWC runner, holding off Whitworth's Jesse Stevick by just over two seconds.
"We're running really well for this point in the season," Whitman coach Carol Feezell said. "All of our returning runners ran about a minute faster this year (at the Bigfoot Open). This is a really slow course, so we weren't as concerned about times as we were about training."
The Missionaries have begun their tapering process as the prepare for the NWC Championships in two weeks. "This is a low key meet -- we put the emphasis on training to take us into the next phase," Feezell noted.
In the women's race, junior Jeanne Knechtges had Whitman’s next best finish, placing 28th in 20:50.6. Others running for the Missionary women were Jenny Spears, 41st, 21:23.7; Flo Larkin, 48th, 21:35.3; Maureen FitzMaruice, 50th, 21:41.7; Mary Southwick, 51st, 21:47.5; Katherine Magid, 84th, 25:21.4; and Harmony Paulsen, 85th, 25:23.2.
Also running for the Whitman men were Conor Flynn finished 28th, 27:38.5; Ryan Gold, 38th, 28:09.1; James Voelckers, 54th, 29:01.7; Pat Cade, 57th, 29:06.9; Mike Orcutt, 61st, 29:18.2; and Chris Brewer 72nd, 31:01.3.
The Missionaries return to Ft. Steilacoom Park in Tacoma for the NWC Championships on Saturday, Nov. 2.
Whitman sophomore Sierra Witnov cemented her position as one of the top cross country runners in the Northwest Conference by placing fourth in Saturday's conference championships, which took place at Ft. Steilacoom Park in Tacoma, Wash.
Witnov finished the 6,000 meters in 23:19.8 -- just 1.1 seconds behind third-place Sadie Grossman of Lewis & Clark. Willamette's Kari Holbert won the race in 22:45.0, or 1.2 seconds in front of the runner-up, Whitworth's Leslie Nelson.
"Sierra has been awesome all season, and she was again today," Whitman coach Carol Feezell said. "Sierra now goes to regionals in two weeks, and she has an excellent chance to qualify for nationals as well."
The NCAA D-III West Regionals are set for Saturday, Nov. 16, at Prado Park in Chino, Calif. The national championships will take place one week later in Northfield, Minn.
In the men's 8,000 meters on Saturday, junior Braden Burkholder posted Whitman's best finish for a third straight season, placing 23rd in 27:25.1. Sophomore teammate Conor Flynn was close behind in 28th place with a time of 27:43.4.
With Aaron Young winning the men's race in 25:24.1, Willamette easily retained its NWC team title by filling five of the first eight individual spots. The Willamette men were first in the team scoring with 22 place points, 15 points in front of second-place Puget Sound.
Willamette also won a close battle for the women's crown, edging Whitworth 58 to 61. Puget Sound was a close third with 77 points.
Both Whitman teams placed seventh in the nine-school field. "Placing seventh was a little disappointing for us, but we did everything we could," Feezell said. "The races didn't come together today as we hoped they would. I'm still very proud of both teams. Our runners worked very hard this season."
The Missionary men totaled 165 for their team score, seven points behind sixth-place Lewis & Clark and 28 points in back of both Pacific and Pacific Lutheran, who tied for fourth place with 137 points.
The Whitman women finished with 175 team points, 20 behind sixth-place Lewis & Clark.
Rounding out Whitman's top five on the men's side, after Burkholder and Flynn, were sophomores James Voelckers (28:25.5) and Pat Cade (28:37.9), who placed 38th and 44th respectively, and senior Ryan Gold (29:06.8), who placed 50th.
Others running for the Whitman men were sophomore Mike Orcutt, 54th, 29:17.8; sophomore Ryan Choi, 57th, 29:41.7; and junior Chris Brewer, 66th, 31:20.4.
In the women's race, Whitman's next best finish after Witcov was registered by senior Mary Southwick, who placed 42nd in 25:27.0. Filling out the Missionary top five were junior Jeanne Knechtges, 48th, 25:50.5; sophomore Jenny Spears, 50th, 25:55.0; and junior Flo Larkin, 55th, 25:58.1.
Other Whitman runners were sophomore Maureen FitzMaurice, 58th, 26:09.1; freshman Katherine Magid, 79th, 30:26.0; and freshman Harmony Paulsen, 80th, 30:35.4.
Sierra Witnov and Braden Burkholder both qualified for the Nationals Saturday at the NCAA West Regional in Chino, California. Whitman did not send its entire squad to regionals, but Witnov and Burkholder each qualified individually.
Witnov needed to be among the top six runners not on a qualifying team to advance. She easily made the cut, finishing fourth in the 6K with a time of 22:42.
In the men's race, Burkholder faced the same challenge, having to finish in the top six not on a qualifying team to advance. He ran his best race when he needed to, finishing 20th overall with a season best time of 26:47 in the 8K. Burholder placed 12th among Northwest Conference runners, improving 11 places from the NWC Championships.
"I am thrilled to see these two qualify," Whitman coach Carol Feezell said. "Nationals is just icing on the cake - they earned it and are very deserving."
Witnov and Burkholder will travel to Nothfield, Minn. and St. Olaf College next weekend to compete in the NCAA National Championships.
Sophomore Sierra Witnov placed 100th in the women's race and junior Braden Burkholder finished 157th in the men's event at Saturday morning's NCAA Div. III Cross Country Championships in Northfield, Minn.
Witnov, only the second Missionary woman to run in the NCAA championships, finished the 6,000 meters in 23:22.7.
Burkholder, the first-ever Missionary runner to qualify for the men's NCAA finals, finished the 8,000 meters in 27:01.7.
"Both Sierra and Braden ran good, competitive races," Whitman assistant coach Neal Christopherson said. "Both finished strong, right in the middle of big groups of runners."
Witnov had the sixth-best time among the several Northwest Conference runners in the women's race. The best NWC time, 22:57.6, was posted by Willamette's Kari Holbert, who placed 66th.
Burkholder's time was ninth-best mark posted by a NWC runner in the men's race. Puget Sound's Dan McLean placed fourth overall in 25:21.4, while Willamette's Aaron Young was 15th in 25:34.3.
Ryan Bak, running for Connecticut's Trinity College, won the men's race in 25:01.1. There were a total of 213 finishers.
Missy Buttry, running for Wartburg College (Waverly, Iowa), dominated the women's race, which also had 213 runners. Buttry's winning time was 20:17.3, a whopping 50 seconds ahead of the runnerup, Mariko Holbrook of Brandeis University.
In the team scoring, it was the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (men) and Williams College (women) winning national titles. Willamette placed fifth in the men's team standings, while Puget Sound was 22nd. Whitworth placed 21st in the women's standings.
Saturday's races were held on the campus of St. Olaf College. Weather conditions included mostly sunny skies, 35-degree temperatures and light winds.
Witnov and Burkholder qualified for the national championships by placing fourth and 20th in their respective regional races on Saturday, Nov. 16.
Whitman, which made the transition from the NAIA to the NCAA with the 1995-96 academic year, sent its first cross country runner to the NCAA nationals in the fall of 2000. Jennie Wood, then a senior, placed 71st in that year's national championships.