WU Women also Win; Castillo and Mattox Take Individual Titles
SALEM, ORE. -- Led by a first place finish from Leo Castillo (Jr., Parkdale, OR/Hood River Valley HS), the Willamette University men's cross country team earned the top five places for a perfect team score of 15 at the Willamette Grass Course on Friday, Sept. 17.
The WU women's team also achieved first place, with Kimber Mattox (Jr., Bend, OR/Bend HS/Cornell Univ.) winning the individual title and the Bearcats claiming a score of 22.
In the men's race, Willamette earned eight of the top nine individual finishes. Castillo won the race with a time of 22:43.86. Stefan Redfield (Sr., Sisters, OR/Sisters HS) was second at 22:53.31 and Kevin Aubol (So., Ellensburg, WA/Ellensburg HS) was third at 23:10.00. Ryan McLaughlin (Sr., Milwaukie, OR/Milwaukie HS) continued WU's list of top finishers in fourth place with a time of 23:20.75.
Nate Smith (Sr., Colorado Springs, CO/Air Academy HS) completed the perfect score by edging out Linfield's Scott Gage to take fifth place. Smith completed the 7,085-meter course in 23.24.51, while Gage clocked in at 23:25.66.
Also achieving Top 10 places for the Bearcats were Nicholas Rebol (Sr., Cottonwood, CA/Red Bluff Union HS) in seventh, Parker Bennett (Fr., Medford, OR/Sisters HS) in eighth and Ben Donovan (Jr., Minneapolis, MN/South HS) in ninth. Rebol earned a time of 23:30.08, while Bennett completed the race in 23:37.53 and Donovan was timed at 23:38.93.
Joseph Pia of George Fox University placed 10th in the standings. His time was 23:39.77.
Willamette's held a solid margin for first place in the men's team standings. Linfield was second with a score of 61, while Pacific University placed third with a score of 95. George Fox and Pacific Lutheran University tied for fourth at 102.
Mattox won the women's 5-kilometer race by nearly 30 seconds. She completed the course in 19:03.41. Mimi Seeley from Linfield took second place at 19:32.93. Kaitlin Green (Jr., Pullman, WA/Pullman HS) of Willamette was third in 19:49.58 and Sally Venable (Jr., Ventura, CA/foothill Technology HS), also from Willamette, took fourth in 19:58.93.
Katie Lewis from the University of California-Santa Cruz was fifth with a time of 20:01.95.
Theresa Edwards (So., Lake Tapps, WA/Bonney Lake HS) of WU placed sixth at 20:04.20, while Suzy Olsen of Pacific Lutheran was seventh after finishing in 20:09.19. Alisha Till (So., Richland, WA/Richland HS) from Willamette placed eighth at 20:09.96.
Rounding out the Top 10 were Samantha Lee of Pacific in ninth at 20:12.99 and Katherine Gebert of Pacific Lutheran in 10th at 20:19.91.
The Bearcats won the women's team championship by a comfortable margin. WU's score of 22 was followed by UC-Santa Cruz in second place with a score of 69. Linfield followed in third at 75, while Pacific Lutheran placed fourth at 81 and Pacific was fifth at 117. George Fox did not enter a full women's team.
Up next for the Bearcats is the Linfield Invitational at Willamette Mission State Park on Saturday, Sept. 25. The first race is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. (PDT). One week later, WU will host the 36th Annual Charles Bowles Willamette Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 2 at 9:30 a.m. (PDT) at Bush's Pasture Park.
Kimber Mattox won the women's 5-kilometer race at the Willamette Grass Course with a time of 19:03.41.
