By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

WINNECONNE, WIS. -- A total of nine Willamette University runners competed at the 2011 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Nov. 19 at the Lake Breeze Golf Course. Willamette was represented by a full team entry of seven athletes in the women's race, plus two athletes from the Bearcat men's team who earned individual bids to the NCAA Championships.

Michaela Freeby (Fr., Milwaukie, OR/Rex Putman HS) was the top Bearcat finisher in the women's 6-kilometer race as she earned a time of 22:22.27. She placed 109th out of 277 runners and was 73rd among scorers. Willamette's women took 29th place in the team standings.

Washington University (Mo.) claimed the women's team title with a score of 70. Second place went to Middlebury College (Vt.) with a score of 111, while Williams College (Mass.) was third at 153.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.), which won the West Regional with Willamette in second place last week, took fourth at the NCAA Championships with a score of 223. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was fifth at 276.

The women's individual champion was Chiara Del Piccolo from Williams. She crossed the finish line at 20:52.08 to win by 5.62 seconds. Christy Cazzola from the host team at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, finished second in 20:57.70. Annie Lydens of Pomona-Pitzer, the West Region's individual title winner, took third place at 21:02.84.

Erica Jacky of Washington University was fourth at 21:04.21. Margo Cramer of Middlebury earned fifth place at 21:05.97.

Following Freeby for Willamette was Kaitlin Greene (Sr., Pullman, WA/Pullman HS), who placed 141st overall and 101st among scorers in 22:33.72. Theresa Edwards (Jr., Lake Tapps, WA/Bonney Lake HS) finished 177th at 22:47.17.

Amanda Tamanaha (Jr., Honolulu, HI/St. Andrews Priory School) of WU was 240th at 23:33.19. Sarah McSweeney (Sr., Petaluma, CA/Casa Grande HS) was 254th at 23:50.19.

Leo Castillo (Sr., Parkdale, OR/Hood River Valley HS) of Willamette placed 164th in the men's race, which covered 8 kilometers. His time was 25:40.70. It was the fourth consecutive year that Castillo has participated at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Kevin Aubol (Jr., Ellensburg, WA/Ellensburg HS) of WU took 244th place with a time of 26:21.05. It was his second consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships.

Overall, the men's race included 279 runners. The men's team championship was earned by North Central College (Ill.) with a score of 110. Haverford College (Pa.) placed second with a score of 172. Washington University was third at 206, SUNY Geneseo (N.Y.) was fourth at 235 and Wisconsin-Oshkosh was fifth at 277.

Ben Sathre from the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) won the men's race in 23:44.27. He achieved a margin of victory of 5.33 seconds.

Second place was attained by Lee Berube from SUNY Geneseo with a time of 23:49.60. John Johnston from St. Lawrence University (N.Y.) was third in 24:06.78, Tim Nelson from the University of Wisconsin-Stout was fourth in 24:13.10 and Matthew Perez from North Central was fifth in 24:15.17.