By Sara Elcano, Assistant Athletics Communications Director

SALEM, ORE. -- The Willamette University men's cross country team took fifth place at the Charles Bowles Willamette Invitational, hosted by the Bearcats on Saturday, Oct. 1 at Bush's Pasture Park. Leo Castillo (Jr., Parkdale, OR/Hood River Valley HS) led Willamette by placing 20th among 239 runners in the Men's Cardinal 8K Race.

The University of Portland won the men's Cardinal team title with a score of 25. Marco Cheseto from the University of Alaska-Anchorage claimed the men's Cardinal individual championship as he completed the race in 23:18.70.

Kimber Mattox (So., Bend, OR/Bend HS/Cornell Univ). of Willamette finished 16th in the Women's Cardinal 5K Race. The Bearcat women's team earned 12th place in the team standings.

The University of Idaho won the women's Cardinal team championship with a score of 55. Miriam Kipng'eno of Alaska-Anchorage took first place in the women's Cardinal individual results with a time of 17:19.04.

Following Cheseto in the men's Cardinal race were four runners from the University of Portland. Trevor Dunbar led the pack of Pilots as he claimed second place with a time of 23:22.67. Joash Osoro finished third with a time of 23:31.69. Fourth place went to Alfred Kipchumba, who crossed the line at 23:31.73. Rounding out the top five was Lars Erik Malde at 23:33.68.

Portland was followed in the team standings in the men's Cardinal race by Chico State. Chico had a team score of 62. Third place went to Alaska-Anchorage with 90 points. Idaho finished fourth with 142 points, 13 points ahead of fifth place Willamette at 129.

Second place in the women's Cardinal race went to Frida Aspnaes of Hawaii Pacific University. Aspnaes had a time of 17:28.05. Ruth Keino of Alaska Anchorage and Julia Veseth of the University of Idaho finished third and fourth with times of 17:31.72 and 17:37.18. Fifth place went to Ashley Aitken of the University of Hawaii.

First place Idaho earned 55 points. Alaska-Anchorage and Chico State finished second and third with scores of 93 and 110 points, respectively, in the team standings. UC-Riverside had 133 to finish fourth. Fifth place was claimed by Lipscomb University (Tenn.) with a score of 134.

The men's Gold 8K individual champion was Mike Kilburg. Kilburg ran unattached and finished with a time of 23:39.57. David Laney of Southern Oregon University finished in second place with a time of 24:13.10. Dave Marks of Lewis-Clark State College crossed the line at 24:13.11 to take third place.

Southern Oregon claimed the men's Gold team championship with a score of 48. University of Victoria and University of British Columbia finished second and third with scores of 105 and 119 points, respectively. Lewis-Clark State College claimed fourth place with a team score of 127. Fifth place went to Eastern Oregon University with 161 points.

Julia Tschanz from University of Victoria won the individual women's Gold championship with a time of 17:26.41. Second place went to Kelsey Gasner of Biola University. Gasner ran a 17:31.95. Third place was Amanda Phillips, who ran unattached with a time of 17:35.46.

The Gold women's team championship was won by Biola with a score of 55. Biola just edged the University of Victoria, who finished second with a score of 59. Point Loma Nazarene University finished third with a team score of 157.

Willamette was led by Castillo at 24:24.31, and the Bearcats ran well overall in the men's Cardinal race. Stefan Redfield (Sr., Sisters, OR/Sister HS) finished 24th with a time of 24:31.69. Sophomore Kevin Aubol (Ellensburg, WA/Ellensburg HS) had a time of 24:54.48 and earned 35th place.

Ryan McLaughlin (Sr., Milwaukie, OR/Milwaukie HS) and Nick Rebol (Sr., Cottonwood, CA/Red Bluff HS) also ran well for the Bearcats. McLaughlin posted a time of 25:08.62 for 47th place, while Rebol ran a 25:24.96 to take 61st place.

Following Mattox, the Bearcats had two other runners crack the top 100. Alisha Till (So., Richland, WA/Richland HS) recorded a time of 19:10.38 and finished 92nd. Sophomore Theresa Edwards (Lake Tapps, WA/Bonney Lake HS) finished 101st with a time of 19:18.64.

Willamette's Salley Venable (Jr., Ventura, CA/Foothill Tech. HS) and Sarah McSweeney (Jr., Petalumna, CA/Casa Grande HS) finished 113th and 117th, respectively. Overall, the Women's Cardinal 5K Race included 257 runners.

The Bearcats will compete at the Mike Hodges Invitational on Friday, Oct. 15. Meet time is set for 3:30 p.m. in Oregon City, Ore.