WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- The men's and women's cross country teams competed at the Northwest Conference Championships on Saturday morning and both teams finished eighth in the team standings.  Racing at Veterans Memorial Golf Course, the men scored 201 points and women scored 204.

The men raced first under ideal cross country weather - sunny, but cool - and turned in their best team race of the season.  Riley Stewart (Forest Grove, Ore.) led the team with a 19th place finish in 26:57.9.  He was the third freshman to cross the line out of the 20 who competed.  Nick Slenning (Portland, Ore.) finished 32nd in 27:28.0 and improved 24 places from his finish last season.  Seniors Logan Naegeli (Trout Creek, Mont.) and Kyle Eisenbeis (Bothell, Wash.) both turned in their best ever finishes at the championships in 47th (27:59.4) and 54th (28:16.3) places respectively.  Garrett Stewart (Forest Grove, Ore.) rounded out the team scoring finishing 65th in 29:29.4.

The women's race followed under similar idyllic weather.  Serena Wallace (Centralia, Wash.) had the performance of the day as she finished sixth overall in 22:41.0 to earn First Team All-Northwest Conference honors.  Last year, she finished 13th and earned Second Team All-NWC honors.  Jess Knoll (Arlee, Mont.) finished 41st in 24:36.0.  Elsa Douglass (Portland, Ore.) and Airel Farley (Glide, Ore.) finished right together in 50th (25:08.6) and 51st (25:09.1) places.  Farley also improved 24 places over her last year's finish.  Sophia O'Neal (Dixon, Calif.) was the team's fifth scorer finishing 75th in 27:35.5.

The teams will race one final time this season on Saturday, November 11 at the NCAA West Regional.  The meet will take place in Claremont, Calif. on the Pomona College cross country course.