Hillsboro, Ore. - Pacific's cross country teams competed in the NWC Championships on Saturday. The women took 3rd place with 90 points and the men finished 6th with 179 points. Annie Berry earned First-Team All-Conference honors and Liz Bradley earned Second-Team All-Conference honors. Pacific had five Boxers move up or onto the Top-25 All Time Cross Country Record Board.. The women's 6k and men's 8k championship races were held at Killarney West Golf Course, hosted by Pacific University. 

"I am proud of our teams," said head cross country coach Bailee Krings. "The Northwest Conference is very good this year. Both our squads competed aggressively and put themselves in the race. We had almost every runner PR and place much higher at NWCs this year than they did last year. I am excited for what today means for our programs moving forward!"

Top Performers 

WOMEN

Annie Berry took 4th place with a PR of 21:48.9 and earned First-Team All-Conference Honors.. She moves up to #2 on the Top-25 list.

Liz Bradley took 11th place with a PR of 22:24.2 and earned Second-Team All-Conference Honors. She remains #8 on the Top-25 list

Cris Brethower took 15th place with her PR of 22:44.9. Brethower moves to 10th on the Top-25 list.

Maddy Hubbs took 24th place in a PR of 23:19.5. Hubbs moves to 15th on the Top-25 list.

Alena Krull took 39th place with her time of 24:15.4.

MEN

Will Wada took 15th place with his PR of 25:13.8. He moves up to #7 on the Top-25 list. 

Dexter Patching took 35th place in a PR of 26.02.5. Patching moves onto the Top-25 list at #23.

Kohei Ueji took 47th place with a big PR of 26:32.3.

Reese Yamamoto took 57th place with a PR of 27:30.7.

Dylan Todd took 58th place with a PR of 27:34.8.

 

How It Happened 

Annie Berry, Liz Bradley, Cris Brewthower and Maddy Hubbs started the race in the top about fifteen group of runners. A strong surge about 2k in broke the top seven away from the pack, with Annie Berry in the mix. Liz Bradley and Cris Brethower continued to battle in the next seven runners, with Maddy Hubbs racing for a spot inside the top 25. Berry had a phenomenal kick to cross the line in fourth, just two seconds ahead of fifth-place Madelyn Buckley of PLU. Bradley ran steady and was able to come away with an 11th place finish. Brethower fell off the pack a bit, but was able to close hard and ended up 15th, just one spot out of All-Conference Honors. The women finished 3rd overall with 90 points, just 12 points behind second-place team Lewis & Clark. 

Will Wada started the race in a large group of about 15 men, which remained intact for the first 2,000m of the race. At that point Wada fell back and raced the group vying for top 14. Wada ended up 15th, just one spot out of All-Conference Honors. For the men's team, the race for 5th, 6th and 7th place was tight between runners 2-5. A huge performance by Dexter Patching helped the Boxers tremendously, and incredible finishing straightaway battles by Kohei Ueji, Reese Yamamoto and Dylan Todd made all the difference. The men's team moved from 7th to 6th place over Willamette in the last kilometer of the 8,000m race. The final scores were tight, with Puget Sound in 5th with 163 points, Pacific back by 16 points in 6th with 179 points, and Willamette in 7th with 184 points. 

Up Next 

The Boxers will compete in the NCAA West Region Championship meet in Spokane, Washington on Saturday November 12th at Plantes Ferry Park, hosted by the city of Spokane and Whitworth University. In the NCAA Regional race, each team is allowed to race seven runners. The top five runners score points and runners six and seven displace other team's scorers. The winning team of each of the ten Regional Championship around the country will automatically qualify for the NCAA National Championship. 22 other teams are selected for Nationals by at-large bids, for a total of 32 teams competing in the NCAA National Championship. The first seven finishers from each regional race who are not a part of a qualifying team will qualify individually, for a total of 70 individual qualifiers in the NCAA National Championship meet. 

For the latest information on Pacific Athletics, make sure to check out GoBoxers.com. You can also find the Boxers on social media at @GoBoxers AND @boxertfxc on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

#GoBoxers