Newcomers Shine For NU Cross Country
BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Two newcomers to the Northwest U. cross country team had an outstanding debut at the Whatcom CC Orca Cross Country Invitational at Lake Padden State park Saturday.
Freshman Seth Bridges (Anderson Island / Lakes High School) finished second in the men's 8k with a time of 26:32, only three seconds behind the winner, Ryen Brockerville, of cross country power, Simon Fraser of British Columbia. Eagle frosh Lindsey Wagner (Lacey, WA / Northwest Christian High School), finished 4th with her time of 19:23 for the 5k course at Lake Padden. Sarah Porter of Western Washington U., won the event with a time of 17:38.
Bridges' time moves him into 5th place on the NU all-time cross country list of best times after his first collegiate race.
In addition to Northwest U., also taking part in the Orca Invitational were Simon Fraser, Western Washington University, host Whatcom CC, University of British Columbia, Highline CC, Everett CC and Bellevue CC.
"The women looked solid, but we will need to close our gap between Lindsey and the rest of our team in order to meet our goals this year," stated head coach Preston Brashers following the race. "The men's squad needs to get healthy, as we have no room for error due to our lack of depth this year. On the plus side, Seth and Lindsey had just about as good of freshmen debuts as could we could have hoped for."