ESTACADA, Ore.—Behind individual winners Marcus Nelson and Alice Taylor, the Concordia University men’s and women’s cross country teams each placed second in the team standings at the Lewis & Clark Pioneer Open held at McIver State Park on Saturday.

 

The Concordia men finished with 35 points and were edged by a single point by the host Pioneers. The CU women concluded the race with 56 points to L&C’s 23-point total.

 

Nelson toured the 8,000-meter course in 25:17.07 to win by more than 20 seconds as Lewis & Clark’s John Roberts came in second place with a 25:28.48.

 

Cory Pena and Cordero Cisneros placed fifth and sixth overall, respectively, and fourth and fifth in the team tally with Pena crossing the line in 25:47.42 and Cisneros in 25:49.64. Dylan Zitzer gave the Cavaliers its fourth runner in the top 10 with a time of 26:10.05.

 

“Marcus kind of sat back early in the race but he was able to close hard for his first collegiate win,” CU head coach Randy Dalzell said. “A race of that quality of time shows that he can be one of the contenders in the conference.”

 

Rounding out the CU squad were Derek Woolsey (18th, 27:05.53) and Zachariah Ginn (19th, 27:06.95).  

 

“We weren’t quite running our full squad, but our top guys looked good which means we should be able to put together a formidable team,” Dalzell said.

 

Virtually unchallenged for the women’s title, Taylor covered the 6,000-meter layout in 22:05.69 to defeat L&C’s runner-up Illana Livstrom (22:24.72) be nearly 20 seconds.

 

Junia Limage cracked the top 10 with a ninth-place result after finishing in 23:31.49. Two spots back of Limage, Samantha Robert placed 11th with a 23:51.28 while Maggie Pesanti crossed two spots back of Robert with a 24:31.01 for 13th place.

Also running for the Cavs were Ellen Dexter (40th, 27:45.83) and Kristina Cupp (42nd, 28:56.32).

 

“Alice had a good starting effort,” Dalzell said. “She ran much faster this year than last year over the same course and she finished as an All-American last year, so it shows that she is well prepared for the season.”   

 

Concordia returns to action on Sept. 18 when it travels to race at the CCC Preview held in Klamath Falls, Ore.