Sept. 8, 2007

Lutes Look Sharp at the Sundodger Invitational

Women's Results
Men's Results

SEATTLE, Wash. – Despite entering only eight runners the Pacific Lutheran cross country team had an impressive showing at the Sundodger Invitational yesterday morning at Lincoln Park in West Seattle.

The women’s team was lead by sophomore Katie Choate in a time of 23:40 good for 39th place. Choate was closely followed by teammates Corrine Gogert and Lauren McDonald who ran 23:45 and 23:46.

For the second straight week Lexie Miller and Mary Wuest were the fourth and fifth runners but the two were able to close the gap from last week to make the one through five spread a mere 38 seconds. Wuest was 61st in 24:12 with Lexie following in her footsteps to finish in 69th with a time of 24:18.

The women’s team standings dominated by the Canadians as Simon Fraser placed first with a score of 50 points followed by British Columbia with 72 points. Puget Sound rounded out the top three with 123 points. The Lutes made up for their lack of a front-runner by posting one of the smallest spreads to finish with 217 points, good for 8th in the 15-team field.

On the men’s squad it was déjà vu as senior Michael Jorgenson led the way in a time of 26:32 for 49th place in the field of over 200 runners. The time was almost a minute personal record (PR) for Jorgenson. Just like last week fellow senior Kenneth Chilcoat finished close on Jorgenson’s heels as he crossed the line in 57th place in a time of 26:43, a 53 second PR on the course. Ben Johnson rounded out the senior trio to finish in a time of 27:23 good for 97th place. Johnson was able to pull off a 30 second PR despite battling calf problems in the second half of the race.

The Lutes are in action next Saturday at the Wes Cook Bear Fete Invitational in Brooks, Ore.

- PLU -