Lutes Find Tough Competition at Willamette

Complete Results 

SALEM, Ore. - Tough competition was the standard of the day as both Pacific Lutheran cross country teams finished in the lower part of their divisions at the Willamette Invitational held Saturday at Bush's Pasture Park.

The Pacific Lutheran women placed 16th out of 19 teams in the Cardinal race, which included teams from all three NCAA divisions. NCAA Division II Chico State won the race with 43 points, followed by Augustana (S.D.) with 114, NCAA Division I Idaho with 116 and Whitworth, the top Northwest Conference finisher, with 142. The Lutes were well back with 449 points, but they did finish just ahead of two conference foes, Puget Sound and George Fox.

Youth led the way for the Lutes as frosh Suzy Olsen paced the team for the fourth straight meet, finishing 78th overall and 70th among the scorers in a time of 19:01.28 over the 5000-meter course. Another frosh, Katie Gebert, was 80th among the scorers in a time of 19:11.38, followed by junior Mary Wuest, 82nd in 19:11.88. Other Pacific Lutheran scorers were sophomore Jill Kuschel, 106th in 19:47.35, and frosh Kayley Turner, 111th in 20;23.50.

On the men's side, the Lutes were missing two of their top seven and it showed as they finished last in the 19-team Cardinal field. Chico State was again the winner with 45 points, followed by Division I Boise State with 52. The top Northwest Conference finisher was host Willamette, third place with 113 points. The Lutes scored 544 points.

Junior John Phillips had PLU's top performance, finishing 123rd overall and 100th among the scorers in a time of 26:37.81.

- PLU -