Northwest's Lindsay Wagner (left) and Matt Potter (right) captured individual titles Saturday at the fourth annual Corban Invitational in Salem, Oregon.
Northwest Sweeps Individual Titles, Eagles & Warriors Capture Team Crowns at Corban Invite
FINAL RESULTS
SALEM, Ore. – At the fourth annual Corban Invitational Saturday, Northwest University swept the individual titles with Lindsey Wagner and Matt Potter bringing home the gold to go along with team titles by Northwest's women's squad and Corban's men's team.
On a beautiful fall morning that showcased Corban's all-new cross country course in South Salem, Northwest swept the top three spots in the women's race with Wagner setting a 5K course-record time of 19:07.20 to outlast her Eagle teammates, Paige DeLapp and Joanna Sowers, by more than 22 seconds. Corban's Olivia Johnson led the host team with a fourth place finish thanks to a time of 19:43.22, while Crown College's Erin Kossan led her squad with a 15th place showing after posting a time of 24:11.21.
Northwest captured the overall team title after compiling a combined team total of 19 points to outlast Invitational-host Corban by 18 points and Crown by 61 points.
On the men's side, Northwest's Potter overtook teammate Seth Bridges on the final lap to capture gold with an 8K course-record time of 26:41.52. Bridges, who led for a majority of the race, was overtaken by his NU teammate after he took a wrong turn on the final lap and added nearly half a mile to his race. Despite the miscue, Northwest still went 1-2 with Bridges clocking a time of 27:14.32 followed by seven Corban runners that included David Brown's team-leading time of 27:21.19 that was good enough for third place. Crown College's Simon Kulzer led the Saints with a 10th place showing in a time of 31:04.88.
Overall, Corban posted a race-winning combined team total of 25 points followed by Northwest (53 points) and Crown (73).
Corban's cross country team will return to action on Saturday, September 10th, at the Lewis & Clark Invitational in Portland, while Northwest will take a one-week break before returning to action at the Sundodger Invitational at Lincoln Park in Seattle. Both races begin at 10:00 a.m. on their respective days.