With all five scorers finishing in the top 20, the Wildcats ran to victory Saturday at the St. Martin’s Classic.

Leading the way for the Wildcats in the 5k race were Emma Knudson ‘18 and Courtney Beard ‘19. Beard finished third and Knudson picked up the individual win by finishing first.

“I was excited to get the individual win, but I was really excited to win as a team,” Knudson said.

Knudson’s winning time of 18:50.5 was seven seconds ahead of runner-up Shaylee Hill of Southern Idaho. Beard followed close behind with a time of 19:00.4.

Wrapping up the race’s top five were Madelyn Huston of British Columbia with a time of 19:13.5, and Waverly Shreffler of Western Washington with a time of 19:14.3.

Kaelia Neal ’18 finished 11^th (19:24.2), and Nicole Bissey ’21 and Jaime Rodden ’18 crossed the line at 18^th and 19^th with times of 19:52.8 and 19:56.4 to help the Wildcats tally 52 points.

Runner-up Southern Idaho collected 65 points, and British Columbia finished with 69 points.

“It gets me excited for what’s in store for us. I think that we did well as a team, even with a few of us having an off day,” Knudson said.

The men competed in the 8k run and finished eighth overall with 209 points.

Southern Idaho collected 53 points to top the competition. Western Washington, Lane Community College, Alaska Fairbanks and British Columbia also wrapped up the top five team scores.

Jeff Lee ’18 crossed the line for the Wildcats first, finishing in 25^th place in 27:51.5. Calvin Ong ‘19 finished 35^th in 28:07.9 and Liam Pickhardt ’20 finished 52^nd in 29:02.5.

Also in the Wildcats’ top five were Cameron Holland at 85^th and Josh Ramirez at 89^th.

Up next for Linfield cross country is the Chuck Bowles Willamette Invitational 9 a.m. Saturday in Salem.

“When we’re all primed and ready to come championship season, we’re going to make some serious noise,” Knudson said.