Corban Sweeps Second-Ever Corban Invitational Cross Country Meet
FINAL RESULTS -- WOMEN | MEN
SALEM, Ore. – Junior Carli Moller (Vancouver, Wash.) captured her first individual title of the season to go along with freshman Caleb Goins' (Scio, Ore.) third place showing, as Corban's men's and women's cross country teams swept the team titles at the Corban Invitational Saturday at Bush's Pasture Park.
After capturing the Warner Pacific/Cascade Open seven days ago, both Corban teams stepped onto the grass course at Bush's Pasture Park against fellow conference members Northwest Christian and Warner Pacific in a 3,000 meter women's race and a 5,000 meter men's race.
In the women's 3K race, Moller took the lead from the beginning and held off a trio of fellow Warriors in sophomore Ali Ghavami (Keizer, Ore.), freshman Courtney Welling (Springfield, Ore.), and freshman Jennifer Hague (Florence, Ore.). Moller's time of 11:05.00 was 13 seconds faster than Ghavami, as the 5-foot-6 third-year runner captured her second straight Corban Invitational title.
"This is always a fun race for me," commented Moller. "There is not a lot of pressure, as we are here to practice speed throughout. Today's victory feels good, as I feel that I am on track for the rest of the season along with the conference championship in three weeks."
Behind Moller's medal winning performance, Ghavami turned in a runner-up performance thanks to a time of 11:18.00. Meanwhile, Welling (3rd -- 11:27.00), Hague (4th -- 11:33.00), and freshman Amy Renfro (Albany, Ore.) rounded out Corban's team scoring thanks to Renfro's eighth place showing in a time of 11:58.00.
Freshman Becca Zanon (Salem, Ore.), freshman Alethea Strauser (Salem, Ore.), and freshman Jocelyn Smith (Yakima, Wash.) rounded out the Warrior competitors. Zanon finished ninth thanks to a time of 12:12.00, while Strauser (11th -- 12:26.00) and Smith (14th -- 13:27.00) competed as part of the 15-runner field.
Team-wise, Corban got points from Moller (1st), Ghavami (2nd), Welling (3rd), Hague (4th), and Renfro (8th) for a total of 18 points, which was 22 points better than Northwest Christian's 40-point team total.
On the men's side, all five Corban runners finished in the top 10 led by Goins' third place performance on the 5K course in a time of 16:11.90.
Seniors Ben Snell (Spray, Ore.) and Jason Bernard (Salem, Ore.) finished immediately behind Goins in fourth and fifth place respectively. Snell's time of 16:31.20 was 4.35 seconds faster than Bernard, who led the race for the opening 2,000 meters.
Along with the aforementioned trio, senior Brian Beeson (Soldotna, Alaska) and sophomore Kevin Cook (Ashland, Ore.) rounded out the Warrior scorers with individual showings of eighth and ninth. Beeson's time of 16:54.54 was just under three seconds faster than Cook, who overtook Northwest Christian's Brandon Kundert over the final 100 meters.
Other competitors for Corban were sophomore Jason Hardrath (Baker City, Ore.), junior Jeffrey Schloemer (Mt. Vernon, Wash.), freshman Kevin Coriano (Anchorage, Alaska), and freshman Josh Baker (Anchorage, Alaska). Hardrath led the final quartet of Warrior runners with an 11th place showing in a time of 17:10.82, while Schloemer (15th -- 17:23.23), Coriano (19th -- 17:55.72), and Baker (24th -- 18:31.42) concluded Corban's runners for the day.
Warner Pacific’s Jonathan Graves captured the individual crown thanks to a time of 15:49.98, which was 13.67 seconds faster than fellow Knight teammate Karim Shakalia's runner-up performance.
In the overall team totals, Corban got points from Goins (3rd), Snell (4th), Bernard (5th), Beeson (8th), and Cook (9th) en route to capturing the team title thanks to a combined 29 points. Warner Pacific finished second thanks to 36 points, while Northwest Christian finished a distant third with 64 points.
"The race today went according to plan and both the men and the women had personal bests in the 3K and the 5K," said sixth-year head coach Norm Berney. "Our goal was to have a shorter race where they could feel good about their speed and increase their leg turnover. We feel that both goals were accomplished but we still have work to do before the Conference/National Qualifier in Seattle. Overall, it was a good day and we feel good about winning both the men's and women's races."
This is the first time in program history that both Corban teams have captured back-to-back team titles, while the women's team has brought home the first two Corban Invitational titles following a victory in 2006 on the same course.
The Warriors will return to the course on Saturday, October 25th, when they run in the annual Oregon State Invitational beginning at 10:00 a.m. in Corvallis.