SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – Facing their steepest competition of the season the Northwest Christian University men’s cross country team stepped up in a big way on Friday night, taking fifth-place at the Bill Dellinger Invitational, hosted by the University of Oregon at Springfield Golf Club.
NCU finished behind four NCAA Division I teams but it was who NCU beat that was the true story. Most notably, the Beacons handily defeated the NAIA’s No. 6 ranked Lewis-Clark State University. The Beacons scored 163 points to the 201 total of the Warriors.
Oregon nipped Portland for the team championship, 28-29. UC Davis came in third with 101 points followed by North Dakota State in fourth (113) and the Beacons in fifth.
Once again junior Garrett Kraal (pictured) led the way for the Beacons, taking 18th place overall (25:29). He was the second non-DI runner to cross the finish line, five seconds behind the top runner from Lane Community College.
Next across was junior TJ Wright, taking 31st place (25:57) and sophomore Eli Shelby in 36th (26:12). The small Beacon contingent was rounded out by sophomore Conner Covey (26:37) and freshman Andres Martinez who registered a personal record of 27:21.
After the race, head coach Heike McNeil said, “I am very proud of the men and what they did today. They all looked solid and to beat Lewis-Clark State is a solid performance that we can build off of.”
The Beacons will return to the course in two weeks with their annual run in the notoriously difficult Charles Bowles Invitational in Salem.