Dominic Baez – Editor in chief. Overcoming miserable weather conditions and a hilly terrain, the Linfield cross-country team swept the individual first-place categories at the Puget Sound Invitational on Oct. 17.
Seniors Shawn Fisher and Marci Klimek both broke through the masses to take the title at Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood, Wash.
Fisher completed the 8-kilometer course with a time of 25 minutes, 57 seconds and said it was good to have a win as momentum going into the championship meet.
“There were two other guys there from [University of Puget Sound] and Lewis & Clark College who I knew were going to be good competition,” Fisher said. “I knew it would be close.”
Fisher said the course, along with the weather, resulted in slower times across the board.
Seniors Chris McIsaac and Tyler Davis also placed in the top 10, earning third and eighth place, respectively.
Rounding out the top 20, sophomores Scott Gage, Eric Weinbender and Arian Anderson placed 16th, 18th and 19th, respectively.
“It felt good running that,” Gage said. “There were lots of conference teams there to run against, so I’m happy with it.”
However, he said he did notice a discrepancy.
“The sophomore group needs to work at closing the gap between us and the senior group,” he said. “They are running about a minute ahead of us each race. We need to be a tight-running group, not spread out everywhere.”
Gage also attributed slow times to the weather but said the team usually runs well under such conditions.
For the women, Klimek claimed first in the 6-kilometer race with a time of 22:23, beating out Whitworth University junior Dana Misterek by 15 seconds. Klimek was the only Wildcat runner to finish in the top 10.
However, junior Frances Corcorran placed 16th and sophomore Nelly Evans placed 17th, with times of 23:56 and 23:58, respectively.
The Wildcat men placed second as a team behind Whitworth. The women took fourth place.
The next meet for the Wildcats will be the Northwest Conference Championships at McIver State Park in Estacada, Ore., on Oct. 31.