News Release Date:
Saturday, September 12
WALLA WALLA, Wash. – The Whitman College men’s team finished a distant fifth at last year’s Lewis & Clark Cross Country Invitational, 89 points behind the host school.
In Saturday’s race, the resurgent Missionay men edged Lewis & Clark by two points to take fourth place overall and second among Northwest Conference teams.
“That was really fun for the guys,” Whitman coach Malcolm Dunn said. “We scored so much better as opposed to last year. We were stronger and finished further up in the field, which was really encouraging.”
Senior captain Matt Kelly led Whitman, finishing 19th overall in a time of 26:47.30 on a sun-baked 8,000-meter course at McIver State Park near Estacada, Ore.
Two freshmen, Hugh Parker (21st, 26:54.30) and Alfredo Villasenor (27th, 27:04.90), were next in line for Whitman.. Juniors Sam Hennessey (31st, 27:10.20) and Daniel Luecke (40th, 27:34.40) completed the team score.
Unseasonably warm temperatures gave the men’s race an extra touch of drama. Several runners from schools in western Washington or Oregon were unable to finish because of the heat.
“There were three or four guys who had IV’s in them after the race and a number of guys weren’t able to finish because of how hot it was,” Dunn said.
Freshman Cory Rand led Whitman’s second batch of runners, finishing 44th in 27:40.10. Junior John Callow was 52nd in 27:58.30 while freshman Taylor Mesojednik placed 54th in 28:03.10.
Senior captain Curtis Reid (56th, 28:16.50) and sophomore Brendan Boyer (61st, 28:26.20) rounded out Whitman’s top ten.
Western Oregon’s Chris Reed, who won the race in 25:29.80, led the NCAA Division II Vikings to first place in the team scoring with 51 points. Linfield was second with 71 points, followed closely by NAIA-affiliated Concordia with 77 points.
Whitman was fourth with 118 points, just two points ahead of Lewis & Clark. Other NWC schools in the race were Pacific Lutheran (sixth, 175 points), George Fox (9th, 220), and Pacific (11th, 276).
Whitman next travels to Spokane for the Erik Anderson Invitational in two weeks.
Lewis & Clark Invitational - Complete Men's Results
Report by Andy Jobanek, Whitman Sports Information Intern
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CONTACT: Dave Holden
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