By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director

MONMOUTH, Ore. -- The Willamette University women's cross country team, ranked 16th in NCAA Division III, placed second out of 12 teams at the Ash Creek Invitational hosted by Western Oregon University on Friday, Sept. 11. The Bearcats men's team finished in sixth place out of 13 teams.

Chico State from NCAA Division II won the women's team title with a score of 40. Willamette earned a score of 73 to edge out NCAA Division I opponent University of Portland, which placed third at 79. The Bearcats also placed higher than six NCAA Division II teams.

Simon Fraser University (Canada) was fourth at 136 and Academy of Art (Calif.) placed fifth at 153. San Francisco State University (Calif.) took sixth at 176, while Concordia University (Ore.) was seventh at 197. Western Oregon placed eighth at 224 and Fresno Pacific University (Calif.) finished ninth at 233.

Rounding out the women's standings were Oregon Institute of Technology in 10th at 236, Linfield College in 11th at 286 and Clackamas Community College in 12th at 368.

Olivia Mancl (Jr., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS) crossed the finish for Willamette in fifth place at 16:50.0. Alyssa Reese (So., Louisville, CO/Monarch HS) of WU was eighth in 17:00.5.

All of Willamette's top five runners in the women's race placed in the top 25. Following Mancl and Reese were Hannah Swanson (So., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS) in 18th at 17:14.0, Taylor Ostrander (Sr., Kenai, AK/Kenai Central HS) in 19th at 17:15.2, and Hannah Bressler (Sr., Oak Harbor, WA/Oak Harbor HS) in 24th at 17:26.0.

In addition, Ami Boucher (Jr., Concord, CA/Northgate HS) of Willamette placed 34th in 17:44.2 and Juliet Farnan (Sr., Lafayette, CA/Campolindo HS) was 46th in 18:07.4. A total of 125 athletes competed in the women's race.

Rebecca Bassett from Simon Fraser earned the women's individual championship. She completed the 4.6-kilometer course in 16:28.1 to edge out Sadie Gastelum of Chico State, who placed second just one-half second later at 16:28.6. Courtney Moore of Fresno Pacific was third in 16:34.3 and Megan Fristoe of Concordia was fourth at 16:36.3.

The top finisher for WU in the men's 6.3-kilometer race was Nathan Conrad (Sr., Bothell, WA/Bothell HS), who placed 28th (19th among scorers) with a time of 19:32.6. Patrick Loftus (So., Healdsburg, CA/Sonoma Academy) concluded the race in 33rd place (23rd) at 19:37.9 and Yonny Castillo (Sr., Parkdale, OR/Hood River Valley HS) placed 36th (25th) in 19:40.0.

Hunter Mathies (Sr., Moran, WY/Jackson Hole HS) of Willamette was 66th in 20:23.3. Teammate Jacob Shafi (Sr., Pleasanton, CA/Amador Valley HS) took 71st in 20:27.1 The men's race included 150 runners.

The men's individual title went to William Reyes of Chico State with a time of 17:47.1. He led a 1-2-3-5-6 finish for the Wildcats. Falco DiGiallonardo was second at 18:12.9, while Kyle Madina took third in 18:15.1.

Valentin Pepiot from Academy of Art broke up Chico State's near sweep of the top five finishes by placing fourth in 18:15.2. Steven Martinez of Chico State was fifth in 18:15.2 and Arturo Arevalo of Chico State placed sixth at 18:30.3.

Chico State won the men's team title with a score of 17. Simon Fraser was second with a score of 64 and Portland was third at 134. Western Oregon placed fourth at 140, with Academy of Art in fifth at 1:43 and Willamette in sixth at 165.

Oregon Tech took seventh with a score of 171. Fresno Pacific was eighth at 191, Clackamas CC placed ninth at 198, with Linfield in 10th at 291. Concordia placed 11th at 300, Lane Community College was 12th at 335 and Rogue Community College was 13th at 336.

The Bearcats will return to action at the 41st Annual Charles Bowles Willamette Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 3 at Bush's Pasture Park. The meet is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. (PDT).