Oct. 3, 2006

Lutes to Host Pacific Lutheran Invitational

This week: Lute harriers will be hosting this weekend’s 30th annual Pacific Lutheran Invitational. It will be held on the Pacific Lutheran Campus Golf course. The women’s race is slated to start at 10:00 Am, while the men will start at 11:00 Am. This years race should feature some very good competition for both the men’s and women’s races, conference meet will also be held on the same course. This weekend should provide some good feedback for the Northwest Conference Championships to be held on October 28th.

Men’s Results last week: At the Willamette Invitational the men’s team showed some improvement on it’s Sundodger Invitational performance from two weeks earlier, but were still disappointed in their performance as a team. Mark Manske summed it up best by saying “We have a lot of potential as a team, but it doesn’t mean anything if we don’t star performing real soon”. Hampered by youth and injuries, the Lute men have struggled to reach their potential as a team. Ben Hollander and Mike Jorgensen, who are two of the top runners for the team, were coming off injuries heading into last weeks meet. After only running a few times before the Willamette meet, Hollander while still performing well, didn’t perform as well as many would have expected, while Jorgensen failed to finish the 8000 meter course due to a foot injury. Leading the way for the Lutes was Kenneth Chilcoat with a time of 27:30, followed by John Pedack (27:51), Matt Beal (28:02), Ben Hollander (28:05), Tony Horton (28:46), Mark Manske (29:37), Chris Ramirez (30:29), Andy Musson (30:42), and Sean Roach (35:34).

Women’s Results: Also at Willamette the women showed a tight pack of girls, and how a much more positive race than the men. The top three girls were able to stay within good proximity to each other, with Michele Hegg crossing the finish line first in a time of 19:25, followed by Lauren Mcdonald and Katie Choate in times of 19:35 and 19:38 respectively. The next runner was Lexie Miller in a time of 20:31 and to round out the top five for the women was Chelsea Berdahl with a time 21:29. After seeing the results of this race, the women know exactly what they have to do to be one of the top 3 teams at conference. They will need to work on closing the gap between the #3 runner and #5 runner, which is nearly a two minute difference. Everything the team will be doing from now on will be geared towards preparing the team for conference. Coach Kreier has stated that “We’re going to be stopping lifting completely, giving us a chance to freshen up and get a little more lean before conference (both men and women). Also running in the Willamette Invitational were Kate Burdekin (21:57), Elizabeth Zimmerman (22:09), Nichole Craig (22:24), and Breona Mendoza (23:33).

Next Week: The Lute harriers will be in action In Oregon City, Or for the Mike Hodges Cross Country Invite. The race times will be 11:00 Am for the men and 11:45 Am for the women.

- PLU -