Lewis & Clark’s cross country team ran in their first official meet of the season on Thursday, September 1. Located at Westmoreland Park and hosted by LC, the meet ended with amazing results for the cross country team. For this season’s opening match, LC ran against Pacific University and managed to win both the men’s 4 mile (6.44 kilometer) and women’s 5 kilometer (3.11 mile) races.
In the first race, LC’s men’s team fought their way to victory and outran their fellow collegiate competitors by a large margin. As a result of their hard work and effort, the men’s team successfully received a total score of 15, the best possible score a team could receive, with their total race time coming out to 1:46:11.
In contrast, Pacific University received a total score of 46, with a total race time of 1:52:41. Leading the team to their victory was Washington native and LC student Blake Slattengren ’18. He placed first on his own respective team and impressively collected a score of 1 — the best individual score possible — in the overall race. Slattengren’s time came out to 20:53:6—nearly a minute quicker than Pacific University’s best scoring runner, Logan Naegeli.
Following Slattengren’s placement came Liam Monheim ’20, in his first official college race, with an individual time of 21:09:4. This 6’1” runner managed to pass fellow teammate Laurence Seabrook ’20, who received an individual race time of 21:18:3. Both men successfully aided in sweeping the competition, with LC’s scoring order coming out to 1-2-3-4-5 (8) (9). Defeating their competition handily, the top 5 quickest runners were all from LC, which ended up securing 8th and 9th place as well. Unable to match LC’s runners, Pacific University’s scoring order came out to 6-7-10-11-12 (13).
Much like their male counterparts, LC’s female runners scored a victory for themselves against Pacific University. In a nail-biting race toward the finish line, the women’s team proved their grit by managing to outrun the competition by a little over a minute. LC’s total race time came out to 1:39:43, barely hedging a win over Pacific University, who scored a total race time of 1:40:54.
The best two scorers in this race were Kori Groenveld ’18 and Frances Swanson ’17, with Groenveld finishing second and Swanson finishing third. Groenveld placed second with an individual time of 19:16:2, while Swanson’s individual race time came out to 19:28:9. Finishing approximately eight seconds apart, both women allowed LC to gain a lead over Pacific University, whose fastest runner managed to receive a score of 1 in the overall race.
Pacific University’s Stephanie Spencer lead her fellow runners by nearly a minute, with an impressive individual race time of 18:39:0. Her and teammate Serena Wallace sandwiched LC’s best placing runners by finishing in 1st and 4th, respectively. However, neither runner was able to score a win for their team and, as a result, LC finished triumphantly with a scoring order of 2-3-5-7-8 (9) (10). In a hard-fought battle, Pacific University finished short with a scoring order of 1-4-6-11-12 (13).
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