By Lance Fleming, Writer, and Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
SPOKANE, Wash. – Willamette University ran one of its best races of the season on Saturday morning, Oct. 28, at the Northwest Conference Cross Country Championships, as the Bearcats finished fourth overall. Willamette placed two of its runners in the top 15, and had four runners in the top 25, at the Plantes Ferry Park and Sports Complex.
George Fox University won its third straight NWC womens' team title. Each of GFU's five runners placed in the top 10 as the Bruins finished with a score of 29, well in front of Lewis and Clark College, which claimed second place with a score of 92. Pacific University was third at 96, followed by Willamette in fourth at 100. Whitworth University placed fifth at 106, Whitman College was sixth at 126, Linfield University was seventh at 203, Pacific Lutheran University finished in eighth place at 215, and the University of Puget Sound was ninth with a score of 233.
Zoe Heino (So., Portland, OR/Mountainside HS) led Willamette. She placed 12th on the 6-kilometer course in a time of 22:50.1. Heino was followed by Anastasiia Lemesh (So., Chernihiv, Ukraine) in 14th place at 23:13.1. Heino and Lemesh each earned Second Team All-NoWC honors.
Anna Bikle (So., Woodside, CA/Half Moon Bay HS) was 20th overall for the Bearcats, covering the course in 23:43.8. Morgan Shaw (Fy., Redmond, OR/Ridgeview HS) was 23rd in 24:05.7, and Aven Roberts (Fy., Missoula, MT/Hellgate HS) was 33rd in 24:49.7. Heino recorded her second-best 6-kilometer time of the season, trailing only the 22:16.7 she posted two weeks ago at the Linfield George Oja Cross Country Invitational.
Grace Kosmicki (So., Pocatello, ID/Highland HS) of Willamette was timed at 25:00.0 for 37th place. Leila Fischer (Jr., Wenatchee, WA/Wenatchee HS) completed the race in 25:24.7 and was 47th. A total of 76 runners participated in the women's 6-kilometer race.
Riley Buese from Lewis and Clark entered the meet as one of the favorites to win the individual title. She took first place with a time of 21:31.7. Buese out-paced second-place finisher Kayla Allpoel from George Fox, who finished in 21:46.9. Breanna Schmitt of GFU George Fox placed third in 22:04.3. Malia Heien of Lewis & Clark was fourth at 22:15.5, while Madelyn Buckley from Whitworth earned fifth place in 22:21.8.
Willamette will run at the NCAA West Regional on Saturday, Nov. 11 in Riverside, California. The meet will be hosted by the University of La Verne. Action is set to begin at 8 a.m. PDT.
