News Release Date:
Saturday, September 5

WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Malcolm Dunn, the men’s cross country coach at Whitman College, predicted that his freshman class could surprise some opponents this fall, and on Saturday freshman Alfredo Villasenor made his coach look like a soothsayer.

Running a time of 19:59.79, Villasenor finished 10th in the men’s 6,000 meters at the annual Whitman Invitational at Fort Walla Walla Park.

In a race dominated by Lewis-Clark State and the University of Great Falls, Villasenor outran all but one runner from Whitworth University, one of Whitman’s Northwest Conference rivals. Nicholas Gallagher ran to an eighth-place showing for the Pirates.

Dan Luecke

Sam Hennessey

Two juniors, Sam Hennessey and Dan Luecke, were second in line for Whitman, finishing 17th and 18th, respectively, in times of 20:16.41 and 20:17.36.

Hugh Parker, another member of the touted freshman class, was 22nd overall in a time of 20:29.21, while senior captain Matthew Kelly rounded out Whitman’s team score in 26th place in 20:40.90.

Saturday’s competition was the first of the season for Whitman, and Kelly ran more of a workout than an actual race, Dunn said. Curtis Reid, Whitman’s other senior captain, did not run at all, which in all likelihood undercut the Missionary team score a bit more.

“If you look at the scoring it’s really deceptive,” Dunn said. “I think if things had gone just right we really could have been right up with Whitworth, which is pretty exciting.”

The Whitworth men, the defending NWC champs, are ranked No. 22 nationally to start the NCAA Division III season.

“We were expecting our men’s team to be stronger that last year, and they looked even stronger today than we expected,” Dunn said.

Matt Kelly

Now that Saturday’s season opener is out of the way, the men will run the standard 8,000 meters for the rest of the season, and longer distance better suits his team, Dunn said.

The first of those longer races comes next Saturday, when travels to Estacada, Ore., for the Lewis & Clark Invitational.

Lewis-Clark State, a nationally ranked NAIA school, dominated today’s race, placing their first five runners in the top nine spots. Dan Marks won the race in 19:07.38., beating his nearest challenger by 20 seconds.

Lewis-Clark State was a clear-cut winner in the team scoring with 21 place points for its top five finishers. Great Falls was second with 62 points and Whitworth third with 65.

Two more freshmen, Cory Rand and Taylor Mesojednik, paced Whitman’s second five. Rand was 28th (20:48.49) and Mesojednik 31st (21:01.28).

Others in that second five were John Callow (37th, 21:17.91), Brendan Boyer (41st, 21:31.86) and Dan Stoops (43rd, 21:36.67). Also running for the Missionaries were Whitney Griggs (45th, 22:02.04), Erick Aguayo (53rd, 24:24.66) and Seth Smith (55th, 25:27.69).

Report by Andy Jobanek, Whitman Sports Information Intern

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CONTACT: Dave Holden
Sports Information Director
Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wash.
509 527-5902; holden@whitman.edu