As the first week of classes came to an end Friday, 20 Linfield cross country runners, 11 women and 9 men, competed against George Fox at Joe Dancer Park in McMinnville to begin their season.

As the women stepped up to the start line of their four kilometer race, the rain began to fall, following the gun the athletes took two loops around a grass and bark chip course.

By the beginning of the second loop, Linfield had taken the lead and the sun was making an appearance.

After crossing the finish line many athletes fell to their knees to catch their breath and stop the pain.

Coming in first was Linfield’s Emma Knudson, ‘18, with a time of 15:44, followed by Courtney Beard, ‘19,  in 15:52, they were followed by a pack of six George Fox women, who clinched the team title with 25 points in contrast to Linfield’s 34. Also scoring for Linfield was Katie Higinbotham, ‘17 coming in 10th, Kaelia Neal, ‘18, in 11th, and Ana Ramirez, ‘18, rounded out the top five finishing 14th.

Kelly Roth, ‘20,  who finished 20th, who was the top finishing freshman for Linfield, thought that her first collegiate race was an “odd distance,” most collegiate races are 6 kilometers rather than 4, but she gave it all she had and is looking forward to the next race.

The Linfield men came up short, losing to George Fox 35-22 in their six kilometer race, also different than their typical eight kilometers. The Joe Dancer Park course means three loops for the men.

After two laps Linfield was in third. But at the finish Linfield’s Adrian Clifford, ‘17, led the team coming in second with a time of 20:23, behind only Jackson Baker of the Ultimook Track Club who came in at 19:47. Clifford was followed by four George Fox competitors and then fellow teammates Chris Roth, ‘17, in 7th and Jeff Lee, ‘18, in 8th.

Rounding out the top five for Linfield were Calvin Ong, ‘19,  in 11th and Liam Pickhardt, ‘20, in 12th. In preparation for this race the team had been working on “short term speed”, said Grant Blodgette, ‘19, who finished in 21st with a strong final meters.  

The teams head to Monmouth, Oregon, on September 19th to compete at the WOU Ash Creek Invitational. The Women’s 4.6 km Race will be run at 5:00 p.m. and the men’s 6.3 km race will start at 5:45 p.m.