INDEPENDENCE, Ore. – Led by an All-Northwest Conference showings from Alex Peters and Abby Staley, the Whitworth men finished in second place at the 2024 NWC cross country championships on Saturday morning at Oak Knoll Golf Course, while the Pirate women finished in third place.
Peters ran the men's eight-kilometer race in 24:56.7 to lead the Bucs and earn first team All-NWC recognition. The top seven finishers are first team honorees while the next seven are second team.
George Fox's Austin Gappa won the men's race with a time of 24:31.4.
James Dugenet finished 9th in 25:05.6 and London Haley took 14th in 25:11.7. Both picked up second team All-NWC status. Isaac Akiyama crossed in 22nd place (20 points) with a time of 25:43.2 and Nick Baker was 28th in 26:09.7 (26 points).
Defending champion George Fox had five finishers among the top ten individuals. The final men's team scores were: GFU 28, Whitworth 74, Whitman 90, Lewis & Clark 108, Puget Sound 121, Willamette 184, Pacific Lutheran 192, Pacific (Ore.) 206, Linfield 217.
The Pirate women nearly made it two second place finishes but came up only three points shy of Willamette in third. Defending champion George Fox also won the NWC women's title.
The final women's team scores were: George Fox 40, Willamette 76, Whitworth 79, Lewis & Clark 90, Puget Sound 141, Whitman 143, Pacific Lutheran 168, Pacific (Ore.) 172, Linfield incomplete.
Staley ran a time of 21:57.3 on the six-kilometer course to earn first team All-NWC. L&C's Riley Buese won the race with a time of 21:16.6, 34 seconds ahead of runner up Breanna Schmitt of George Fox.
Ashlyn Dary not only earned second team All-NWC with her 10th place finish (22:39.4), she is also the 2024 NWC Women's Rookie of the Year as the top-placing freshman runner.
Kezlie Thygesen crossed in 14th place in 22:46.8 to also earn second team recognition. Lulu Brady finished 18th in 23:08.3 and Courtney Osborne rounded out the Pirate scorers in 37th place (24:15.5), scoring 34 points.
Whitworth will return to action in two weeks at the NCAA Division III West Region Championships.
