Lutes Sweep Own Invitational Titles

Men's Results
Women's Results

PARKLAND - Pacific Lutheran proved to be a stingy host on Saturday, sweeping both the men's and women's titles at the PLU Invitational cross country meet held on University Golf Course.

In the men's race, Pacific Lutheran scored 31 points, followed by a PLU Alumni group that finished second with 45 points. Pacific (Ore.) was third with 63 points, followed by Puget Sound with 109 and Green River College with 124. Clark College competed but did not have enough runners to score team points.

Lutes alum Destry Johnson ran away from Shane Weldon from Clark College late to win the men's 8000-meter race in a time of 25:47.15. Johnson and fellow alums Lance Thompson, Floyd Bangerter and Pat Dill all finished in the top 14. Sheldon placed second in 26:06.65, followed by unattached runner Kellen Peters in 26:43.49 and Clark's Riley Eoff in 27:08.88.

Leading the charge for the Lutes was John Phillips, fifth overall in a time of 27:10.59. Sean Andrascik placed seventh in 27:24.55, while Orion Bras was 10th overall in 27:43.74. Barrett Bollen placed 15th in a time of 28:00.85, with teammates Justin Barth (28:04.76) and Anthony Horton (28:11.52) right behind him.

On the women's side, the Lutes scored 34 points followed by Pacific (Ore.) with 48, Puget Sound 71 and Clark College 74. Green River College competed but didn't have enough runners for a team score.

Kelsey Owens, a Pacific (Ore.) graduate competing unattached, ran by herself most of the way and easily won the 6000-meter race in a time of 22:20.16. Clark's Brittany Henderson was second in 23:19.43, followed by PLU's Suzy Olsen in 23:31.04. Rounding out the top five were Amanda Basham from Pacific (Ore.), fourth in 23:34.17, and Brandi Eloff from Clark, fifth in 23:45.81.

Katie Gebert was the third PLU female runner across the finish line, placing ninth in a time of 24:10.43, followed by Erica Johnson, 12th in 24:48.28, and Kayley Turner, 14th in 24:55.38.

- PLU -