Oct. 27, 2007

Choate Paces Lute Women to Fifth Place Finish at NWC Championships

Katie Choate

Women's Results
Men's Results

BROOKS, Ore. - For the sixth year in a row, the Willamette University women have claimed the Northwest Conference cross country crown, while the Bearcat men captured their seventh consecutive NWC title, at the 2007 NWC Championships held at Willamette Mission State Park and hosted by George Fox University.

The 7th-ranked Willamette women won their seventh overall NWC championship with 39 points, taking a comfortable win over the University of Puget Sound, which had 58 points. Lewis & Clark College took third with 121 points, followed by Whitman College fourth with 131, Pacific Lutheran University and Whitworth University in a tie for fifth with 140, Linfield College seventh with 143, host George Fox University eighth with 184, and Pacific University ninth with 222.

Sarah Zerzan successfully defended her 2006 individual title against 79 other runners with a time of 20:36.01, just short of the NWC 6000-meter record she set last year of 20:32.66 at the Pacific Lutheran golf course in Tacoma, Wash. Zerzan bested teammate Maddie Coffman, who ran a 21:05.80, by almost half a minute. Amanda Phillips of Lewis & Clark took third in 21:13.77.

The top finishers for the Lutes was sophomore Katie Choate who turned in a season best time of 22:54 good for 19th place. Choate was followed by the freshman duo of Mary Wuest, 28th, and Corrine Gogert, 31st, who ran 23:16 and 23:23, respectively. Rounding out the top five was junior Lexie Miller in 34th place (23:26) and Lauren McDonald in 36th (23:28). Also competing for the Lutes were Erika Dornfeld (24:40), Amanda Clancy (24:49), and Candace Attwood (24:49).

Capturing the top three places and with five runners in the top nine, 5th-ranked Willamette breezed to its 17th conference men’s championship with 21 points, the best NWC score since the 1979 Bearcat team won with 16 points. Runner-up Linfield came in with 70 points, followed by Whitworth in third with 83, Puget Sound fourth with 85, host George Fox fifth with 126, Whitman sixth with 153, Lewis & Clark seventh with 183, Pacific Lutheran eighth with 251, and Pacific ninth with 272.

Willamette’s Tristan Knutson-Lombardo ran a 25:00.34 to supplant teammate Ian Batch as the men’s champion. Batch was second in 25:08.70, with Taylor Roholt in 25:17.90 making it the story of the three Bearcats. Nicholas Gallagher of Whitworth was fourth, Francis Reynolds of Puget Sound fifth, Josh Clough of Willamette sixth, and Harrison Wilson of Linfield seventh, rounding out the All-Conference First Team.

Senior Kenneth Chilcoat led the PLU men’s team with a 44th-place finish. His time of 27:27 was almost a minute slower than his best mark this season. Following Chilcoat was freshman Barrett Bollen in 59th place (28:35). Chris Ramirez was next for the Lutes in 67th (30:01), with Mikal Applewhite placing 69th (31:02). Brad Denesen and Mark Manske were the other Lutes competingand they crossed the line in 31:20 and 31:41, respectively.

The next event for the women’s team is the NCAA Division III West Regional Championships on Saturday, Nov. 10, at McIver State Park in Estacada, Ore.

- PLU -