Sept. 4, 2007

Harriers Kick Off Season at Lewis & Clark Invite

THIS WEEK: The Lutes will head south to the Lewis & Clark invitational which will take place at McIver State Park outside of Portland. The women’s race is set for 10 p.m. and the men’s race will start at 11 p.m.

INTRASQUAD MEET: The Lute Harriers braved the cold and dark conditions as they competed in the intrasquad meet last Saturday on the PLU campus. Both the men’s and women’s team toed the line at 6:15 a.m. for the start of the race. The course consisted of a 2000-meter loop with the men running an 8k and the women a 6k. The top finisher for the men’s team was Michael Jorgenson in a time of 28:33. A distant second was Ben Johnson in 30:14 and rounding out the top three was Kenneth Chilcoat in 30:21. The women’s squad had a closer race up front as senior Lauren McDonald and freshman Corrine Gogert both ran 24:15.

HISTORY LESSON: The last time the PLU cross country team ran at the Lewis & Clark Invitational was in 2004 when the current seniors were only freshman. The seniors who competed three years ago were Ben Johnson and Kenneth Chilcoat on the men’s side and Lauren McDonald on the women’s team. The 2004 women’s team finished second in the eight team field while the men did not get a team score because only four runners finished the race.

NEXT WEEK: The Lutes will be heading to Lincoln Park in Seattle for the University of Washington’s Sundodger Invitational. More than 800 athletes from 45 teams will be running. The meet will be on Saturday the 15th with the first race starting at 9:30 p.m.

- PLU -