September 20, 2013
Wildcat Women Win NW Classic

EUGENE, Ore. – Third-place finisher Hannah Greider led a quintet of top-10 finishers that propelled the Wildcats to a women’s team victory at the Northwest Cross Country Classic. The Linfield men took third at the meet, hosted Friday afternoon at Lane Community College.

All five scoring Wildcats finished under 20 minutes for the women’s five-kilometer course. Greider completed the race in 19 minutes, 10 seconds as Linfield’s No. 1 runner, with teammate Siena Noe 13 seconds back, coming in fifth at 19:23. Katie Skinner and Madison Trowbridge finished together in seventh and eighth places, respectively. Skinner clocked in at 19:47 while Trowbridge crossed the tape after 19 minutes, 51 seconds.

The Lady Wildcats huddle up and get ready to roll at the NW XC Classic.

"The women's race was really a lot of fun to watch," stated assistant coach Chris McIsaac. "With five women under 20 minutes and 11 around or below 21 minutes for 5k, there was a whole lot of purple up front.

The Wildcats’ fifth scoring runner was Claire Hann, who was 10th in 19:57. As a team, Linfield scored 33 points, outdistancing Yamhill Country rival George Fox (57) by 24 points. Host Lane was third (75), followed by the University of Oregon Running Club (84) and Pacific (105).

Linfield's victorious women's cross country team cools down as the sun begins to set.

Joe Gladow paced the Wildcat men, who scored 85 points to finish as the top team from the Northwest Conference. The senior averaged 5 minutes, 19 seconds per mile over the four-mile course, clocking in at 21:15.

“Our men were running on tired legs and it showed,” stated McIsaac. “We went hard Tuesday and Thursday this week and you could tell it took it’s toll over the last bit of the race. When we sharpen up a bit, they’ll be ready to roll, no doubt.”

Three additional top-25 finishes came from Michael O’Neil, Calvin Howell and Alex Mangan, O’Neil was 14th in 21:28, Howell placed 22nd in 21:47 and Mangan took 25th in 21:54. Chad Linnerooth rounded out the scoring with a 33rd-place finish (22:19).

Joe Gladow and Michael O'Neil lead the charge early at the NW XC Classic.