WALLA WALLA – The Lewis-Clark State College men’s cross country team cruised to a first-place finish, while the women’s team missed winning the title by only seven points at the Whitman College Invitational on Saturday.
Freshman Dave Marks headed an LCSC effort that saw Warriors finished first, second, third, sixth, and ninth. Marks took the individual title with a record breaking time of 19:07 on the 6-kilometer course. The previous record of 19:26 was set by former Warrior Adrian Ramirez last season.
Sean Huey and Jake Miller claimed second and third, respectively.
The LCSC men, currently ranked 19th in the NAIA, finished 41 points ahead of second-place finisher Great Falls.
“One, two, three is a cool way to finish a race,” said LCSC head coach Mike Collins. “Dave [Marks] broke the course record by 19 seconds, and I thought all of our freshman did a great job.”
On the women’s side, sophomore Kelsey Klettke took second in the 4K race with a time of 14:43 and was followed by seniors Lindsay Szybura and Kyli Astle who came in fifth and sixth, respectively. The women’s team, ranked No. 9 in the NAIA, was bested only by Whitworth College which is currently ranked 25th in NCAA Division III.
“Klettke ran up front the majority of the way,” said Collins. “She ended up being not too far off the winner who is a very strong runner.”
Collins was specifically pleased with the results of both races considering the absence of key runners. The men’s team ran without Eric Tuwei, last year’s Frontier Conference Runner of the Year, and also were without junior Chris McConnell who has a minor hamstring injury. Also due to injuries, the women were missing Stephanie Shuel, who finished first on the team in all but one race last season, along with Tayler Harrington, and Amanda Palmer.
Collins said the majority of his teams’ injuries are minor and that he decided to keep some of his athletes from running simply as a precaution.
“We have three weeks before we race again. We know we have to improve, but hopefully we’re healed up by then and I’m excited to see what happens.”
The Warriors next meet is the Eric Anderson Invite in Spokane, Wash. on Sept. 26.
WHITMAN INVITATIONAL
MEN’S 6K RESULTS
Team scoring – 1, Lewis-Clark state 21. 2, Great Falls 62. 3, Whitworth 65. 4, Whitman 84.
Top 10 finishers – 1, Dave Marks, LCSC, 19:07.38. 2, Sean Huey, LCSC, 19:27.06. 3, Jake Miller, LCSC, 19:35.45. 4, Ander Jayo, UGF, 19:38.18. 5, Cullen Cantwell, UGF, 19:39.95. 6, Nick Pierson, LCSC, 19:40.61. 7, Mitch Elias, UGF, 19:45.71. 8, Nicholas Gallagher, WTW, 19:51.53. 9, Grant Eldridge, LCSC, 19:57.61. 10, Alfredo Villasenor, WHT, 19:59.79.
Top 10 finishers – 1, Dave Marks, LCSC, 19:07.38. 2, Sean Huey, LCSC, 19:27.06. 3, Jake Miller, LCSC, 19:35.45. 4, Ander Jayo, UGF, 19:38.18. 5, Cullen Cantwell, UGF, 19:39.95. 6, Nick Pierson, LCSC, 19:40.61. 7, Mitch Elias, UGF, 19:45.71. 8, Nicholas Gallagher, WTW, 19:51.53. 9, Grant Eldridge, LCSC, 19:57.61. 10, Alfredo Villasenor, WHT, 19:59.79.
Other LCSC finishers – 11, Alex Anderson, 20:00.22. 15, Mickael Testa, 20:14.16. 16, Tommy Bollinger, 20:14.77. 20, Tanner Smedley, 20:18.98. 21, Josh Shrewsbury, 20:19.62. 23, Frank Lagrimanta, 20:29.44. 35, Andy Keim, 21:07.62. 42, Sean Hagan, 21:32.74. 46, Scott Sweet, 22:04.43. 47, Conor Thompson, 22:19.20. 52, Alex Weber, 23:19.40.
WOMEN’S 4K RESULTS
Team scoring – 1, Whitworth 33. 2, Lewis-Clark State 40. 3, Whitman 47. 4, Great Falls 115.
Top 10 finishers – 1, Tonya Turner, WTW, 14:34.76. 2, Kelsey Klettke, LCSC, 14:43.80. 3, Dana Misterek, WTW, 14:47.17. 4, V. Joy Shufeldt, WTW, 14:58.79. 5, Lindsay Szybura, LCSC, 15:05.34. 6, Kyli Astle, LCSC, 15:07.68. 7, Sara McCune, WHT, 15:08.04. 8, Emilie Gilbert, WHT, 15:27.16. 9, Heather O’Moore, WHT, 15:27.50. 10, Kathryn Williams, WTW, 15:28.60.
Other LCSC finishers – 13, Madison Randall, 15:34.15. 14, Jessie Gulsvig, 15:35.34. 18, Allie Ford, 15:52.12. 20, Casey Hampton, 15:55.80. 21, Chelsey Leighton, 15:57.93. 32, Francis Rojas, 16:35.78. 35, Amy Watkins, 16:46.40. 46, Whitlee Young, 17:38.20.
