Breakout Individuals Lead Boxers At NWC Championships
Men's Results |
Women's Results
BROOKS, Ore. – Breakout performances by
Dan Flora (Jr., North Bend, Ore.),
Joe Deardorff (Jr., Independence, Ore.) and
Rachel Schreiber (Fr., Longmont, Colo.) punctuated an exciting day for Pacific cross country at the Northwest Conference Championships, held Saturday at Willamette Mission State Park.
Flora and Deardorff both earned Second Team All-Northwest Conference honors with their finishes. They led the Pacific men to a fifth place team finish with 138 points, their best performance at the meet since 2002. Schreiber, meanwhile, moved up to No. 5 on Pacific's all-time best for 6,000 meters as she led the Pacific women to an eighth place team finish.
Flora smashed his personal best at the 8,000-meter distance by nearly 50 seconds, placing 10th in the race with a time of 25:51.59. The performance was the fastest for a Pacific men's runner since 2006 and moved Flora up to No. 13 on Pacific's all-time list. Deardorff was just as impressive, knocking 17 seconds off of his personal best and 55 seconds off of his season best to finish 12th with a time of 25:58.78. The performance moved Deardorff to No. 15 on the all-time list.
“Our men ran a great race today,” said Pacific Head Coach Tim Boyce. “We had solid efforts by every one of our scorers, almost all of whom had seasonal or lifetime bests at the biggest race of the year.”
Schreiber led a day that saw a total of four Pacific women improve their times on the all-time top-25 list. Schreiber showed potential to be a factor in the individual race in future years with her 26th place time of 23:23.77. That moved the freshman up to No. 5 on the Boxers' all-time list and was just 23 seconds out of finishing in the top-15 of the race.
Caitlyn Reilley (Fr., Reedsport, Ore.) finished in 44th place with a season best time of 24:04.04, moving up to No. 13 on the all-time list.
Jilinda Franklin (Jr., Fort Jones, Calif.) was one place behind with a time of 24:05.70, finishing five seconds off of her lifetime best.
Ally Shackelford (So., Portland, Ore.) placed 49th with a time of 24:16.59 to improve her top-25 time, while
Kiersten Iwai (So., San Diego, Calif.) placed 54th in 24:33.49, moving to No. 17 on the all-time list.
“Although we were eighth, this was the best team race ran by our women all year and in many years as indicated by the tight split of our No. 2 through No. 5 runner and the number of seasonal bests we had,” Boyce said.
Jerry Sanchez (Jr., Mecca, Calif.) was Pacific's No. 3 runner in the men's race, finishing 24th in a time of 26:29.66.
John Cushman (Sr., Lakewood, Wash.) was 42nd in a time of 27:00.33 and
John Gillem (Sr., Prineville, Ore.) rounded out the scoring five with his 58th place time of 27:33.61.
Whitworth defended their championship on the men's side of the ledger, placing all five scoring runners in the top-17 to finish with 45 points. Willamette's Leo Castillo defended his individual championship, covering the course in 25:02.52. Lewis & Clark defended their women's championship with 64 points, holding off a close 66-point performance by runner-up Willamette. The Pioneers' Illana Livstrom was the individual champion, clocking a time of 21:50.04.
Pacific will take next weekend off from competition before taking part in the NCAA Division III West Region Championships. The meet takes place on Sat., Nov. 12, on the campuses of Pomona and Pitzer Colleges in Claremont, Calif.
