Kara Putman and Riley Stewart have earned First-Team All-Conference Honors for their efforts in the Northwest Conference Cross Country Championships last Saturday. Putman won the women's 6,000m race and Stewart placed fourth in the men's 8,000m race. In addition to these two, three other Boxers earned Second-Team All-Conference Honors; Erik Maack placed 10th in the men's race, and Morgan Henry and Abby Klein placed 11th and 12th in the women's race, respectively. 

Putman's senior season has displayed her strength on the cross country course. She started the year with a runner-up finish in the first 6k race of the season at the PLU Invitational, and clocked a time of 22:30.4 to move her up to #6 on the Pacific All-Time Cross Coutnry List. From there, she went on to place 26th in a dense field of NCAA Division I, II and III runners at the Mike Johnson Classic. She took 11th place in the Willamette XC Invitational 5k, running a PR of 18:39.  In the last race before Conference, Putman ran an incredible 22:00 for 6k as she placed 15th in the highly competitive Lewis & Clark Invite. Unfortunately for all competitors, the race course was not accurate for the women's or men's race, and thus finishing times could not be used for All-Time lists or records. 

Riley Stewart has also had his strongest cross country season ever. He started the year by winning the first 8,000m race of the season at the PLU Invitational, his first collegiate cross country win. He went on the place an impressive 20th at the Mike Johnson Classic among a very deep field, and ran to a new 8k PR  of 25:14.6 at the Willamette XC Invitational, where he placed 13th. That time moved him to #6 on the Pacific All-Time Cross Country List. Like Putman, Stewart's last regular-season race was a solid performance at the Lewis & Clark Invite. 

Erik Maack is earning Second-Team All-Conference Honors in his first collegiate cross country season. Leading up to this, one of his most impressive races was his 16th place finish at the Willamette Invite, where he ran a 46-second PR of 25:21.2 to take the #8 position on the Pacific All-Time Cross Country list. 

Morgan Henry's season was chalk-full of improvements leading up to her 11th place finish at the NWC Championships. She ran a significant 5k PR at the Willamette Invite of 19:26.8. At the competitive Mike Johnson Classic, she took 28th place and ran a PR of 23:41.5 for 6k, which moved her to the #21 spot on Pacific's All-Time Cross Country List.

Abby Klein is a graduate-transfer from UC Santa Cruz, so this was her first season running for the Boxers, and she improved upon all her collegiate marks leading up to her 12th place NWC Championship finish. In the first 6k of the season, Klein ran to an impressive 8th place finish at the PLU Invitational, and ran a PR of 23:14.1, which put her at #12 on the Pacific All-Time Cross Country list. She also ran a big 5k PR of 19:21 at the Willamette XC Invite. 

The Northwest Conference Official Release can be found at: https://nwcsports.com/news/2021/11/1/all-nwc-womens-cross-country-announced-pacifics-ore-putman-whitworths-buckley-and-george-foxs-wilson-earn-top-honors.aspx

Up Next

All five Boxers will continue their season at the NCAA West Region Championship on November 13 in Calremont, CA, where they hope to advance to the NCAA National Championship race.
 
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