EUGENE, Ore. – Showing that there is room to improve, even for the top ranked team in the NAIA, the Northwest Christian University women’s cross country team blew away what were already high expectations, taking second place at the Bill Dellinger Invitational, hosted by the University of Oregon at Springfield Golf Club.
The last time NCU was defeated was in Idaho last season, finishing second behind the University of Calgary who went on to take third-place at the CIS championships. So finishing second behind the No. 3 ranked team in NCAA DI surely won’t be held against them.
It was in fact the host Ducks that took the title, scoring 39 points, but the Beacons weren’t far behind, scoring 51. In fact two Beacon runners, Sierra Brown and Shea Vallaire, came across the finish line before the first Oregon runner.
The Beacons defeated four NCAA DI programs including UC Davis in third place (75), Oregon State in fourth (84) and North Dakota State in fifth (97).
Head Coach Heike McNeil said, “This was an extremely fun race for us and we knew that there was nothing to lose. I know my girls have been excited to run all week and everyone fought hard through the heat. Our girls started out smart and I was very proud that they didn’t get intimidated by the strong field. They really raced their hearts out after a week of tough workouts.”
The team showing was impressive and so were the individual results as five of the team’s 12 runners hit new personal records. In addition, Brown took second-place overall, finishing just two seconds behind the winner, Emily Weber from Oregon State. Brown posted a time of 17:28, the fourth-fastest time in NCU history.
Vallaire (pictured) was close behind in third-place, running a 17:31 to take more than 30 seconds off of her previous best run while also posting an All-time top-ten time.
Alyssa Harmon took 13th place (17:54) and was followed in 15th by Rosa Schmidt (18:00). Scoring points for the team for the first time in her career, sophomore Anna Brooks finished 18th and shaved nearly a full minute off of her previous best time with a run of 18:05.
Also setting new personal records were senior Macie Gale (18:21), freshman Anika Rasubala (19:17), and freshman Cassandra Brownell (19:44).
Other runners included Michelle Fletcher (18:30), Melissa Rios (18:55), and Emily Moon (20:11).