SALEM, Ore. - The Northwest Christian men's and women's cross country each led the way among CCC teams in action on Saturday at the Charles Bowles Invitational hosted by Willamette University at Bush Park. The women, ranked No. 2 in the NAIA, toppled No. 1 University of British Columbia and took home their third victory of the season.
The Beacons proved to be unrivaled once again, owning the 1st, 2nd, 7th, 8th, and 9th scoring spots to collect an astoundingly low score of 27 points. British Columbia, the four-time defending NAIA National Champions, scored 88 points to finish a distant third.
Junior Alyssa Harmon was up to her old tricks which this time included a new school record with a time of 17:34. She was a full 30 seconds ahead of her previous personal best while defeating the old school record by two seconds. Harmon was second overall but was the top collegiate finisher for the third straight race.
Not to be outdone, Sierra Brown also broke Ally Manley’s previous school record by one second, running a 17:35 to take third place. Brown also claimed a significant personal improvement, beating her old PR by 28 seconds.
While the top of the Beacon lineup is arguably the best in the NAIA, the true strength of NCU lies in its depth, which was on display once again. Junior Michelle Fletcher cruised to a personal record with a run of 18:04, sophomore Rosa Schmidt bumped her PR with an 18:05 and Shea Vallaire came in at 18:08 to give the Beacons five runners in the top-ten among collegiate finishers.
The Oregon Tech women came in fifth, scoring 154 points. The Owls were led by a 14th-place finish for freshman Susie Garza. Corban's Lexi Mitzel was 17th, leading the Warriors to 195 points and seventh place.
Eastern Oregon was ninth (264) followed by Northwest in tenth (268) and Warner Pacific in 17th (459).
On the men's side, No. 19 NCU finished sixth overall, ahead of all other CCC competitors including No. 15 Oregon Tech. It was the second victory for the Beacons over the Owls this season.
The Beacons were without the services of senior Alek Angeli while Oregon Tech performed without senior Paul Adams. NCU adjusted well, finishing the race in sixth place with a team score of 197 while Oregon Tech took eighth place with 223 points.
Leading the way for NCU was sophomore Garrett Kraal who ran a personal best time of 25:03, missing the NCU school record by one second. Kraal finished eighth overall but was third among collegiate runners. Freshman Eli Shelby continued his impressive debut campaign with a 41st-place finish (25:58) with Hunter Tyler close behind in 48th (26:06).
Oregon Tech was led by Dakotah Webb, finishing in 40th place at 25:58. Chris Merlos was close behind in 51st (26:08).
Also competing from the CCC were Northwest University in 10th, Eastern Oregon in 11th and Corban in 17th.