Lutes Thinclads Gear Up for NWC Championships

CROSS COUNTRY THIS WEEK: With a total of six invitational races behind them, the young Pacific Lutheran cross country teams turn their attention to the Northwest Conference Championships, scheduled for Saturday at McIver State Park in Estacada, Ore. The women's 6,000-meter event starts at 11 a.m., followed by the men's 8,000-meter race at noon.

WHAT'S AT STAKE: Northwest Conference cross country bragging rights will be up for grabs this Saturday. Willamette has won seven consecutive NWC women's titles, while Whitworth is the defending men's champion. Puget Sound's Francis Reynolds will be out to defend his individual men's crown, while Linfield's Marci Klimek, third in the 2008 race, is the top returnee on the women's side.

LAST YEAR: PLU finished seventh in the men's competition and eighth in the women's race at the 2008 Northwest Conference championships. John Phillips, who finished 15th, was the only PLU runner to earn a spot in the ensuing regional championships where he finished 41st overall.

WOMEN'S MEET NOTES: The PLU women go into the conference meet with a pair of invitational championships to their credit. They opened the season back on Sept. 5 by winning the Saint Martin's Invitational, and on Oct. 10 they garnered their own PLU Invitational trophy. Pacific Lutheran most recently was one of six NWC schools to compete at the Puget Sound Invitational, that on Oct. 17, and the Lutes women placed fifth in that race, beating the host team by 18 points. Finishing ahead of the Lutes were Whitworth, Whitman, Lewis & Clark and Linfield. Willamette, a national power, did not compete in that race. PLU has already beaten the other two conference schools, George Fox and Pacific, in other races this season. Given those results, the Lutes know that they have a difficult-but-doable task ahead of them. PLU head coach Heather Kreier said that her women's team is going into the race with an opportunity to finish as high as fourth or fifth. A fourth-place finish would earn the team a trip to Claremont, Calif., for the NCAA Division III regional championships at Pomona-Pitzer Colleges on Nov. 14.

PLU WOMEN ENTRANTS: Frosh Suzy Olsen has been the Lutes' top runner throughout the 2009 season and will lead this young and talented team on Saturday. Coach Kreier believes that Olsen could run well enough to qualify for the NCAA national meet in her first year as a collegiate runner. "Suzy is a freshman with great potential," Kreier said. Rounding out the PLU competitors are senior Katie Choate, juniors Mary Wuest and Synneva Hagen-Lillevik, sophomores Jill Kuschel and Erica Johnson, and frosh Katie Gebert, Kayley Turner, Chiara Rose-Witt and Sarah McDade.

MEN'S MEET NOTES: The PLU men also have a race championship to their credit, having won the PLU Invitational on Oct. 10. Among the conference teams they beat that day were Puget Sound and Pacific, though the former was competing without No. 1 runner Francis Reynolds. At the Puget Sound Invitational on Oct. 17, the Lutes were sixth out of six NWC teams in the competition. Coach Kreier believes that her PLU men's team can finish as high as sixth place, which would be an improvement over last season.

PLU MEN ENTRANTS: Like the PLU women's team, the Lutes men are a very young squad. Junior John Phillips has finished first for the Lutes in every race but the first of the season - the Saint Martin's Invitational - when sophomore Sean Andrascik closed well to finish ahead of his teammate. Joining Phillips and Andrascik are sophomores Orion Bras, Justin Barth, Anthony Horton, Austin Martin and Barrett Bollen, and frosh Kolter Grigsby, Nate Allen-Slaba, Nathan Page.

COACH HEATHER KREIER SAYS: "As both teams are mostly freshmen and sophomores, this season has been a substantial building period and will yield greater success in future seasons."