WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Kezlie Thygesen finished second individually, leading the Whitworth women to a runner-up finish on Saturday at the Whitman Cross Country Invitational. The Pirate men finished third overall and both squads were to the top non-Division I schools in the meet.
Whitworth's women finished second only to the University of Montana. The final team scores were: Montana 22, Whitworth 66, Puget Sound 71, Southwestern Oregon CC 98, Whitman 109, Pacific Lutheran 154.
Thygesen covered the six-kilometer course, run on the Veteran's Memorial Golf Course, in 22:20.18, losing to Montana's Kyla Ingraham by only three seconds (22:17.35).
Ashlyn Dary took ninth place for the Bucs in 23:16.43, giving Whitworth two among the top ten. Hannah Higens was the third Pirate across the line in 18th place (24:05.33), while Reagan Rich finished in 23rd place (24:29.31). Madalyn Danaraj (24:32.43) finished one place behind Rich.
On the men's side, London Haley was the first small college runner across the line. He took seventh place with a time of 24:45.01 on the eight-kilometer course. Dylan Weniger, running unattached, won in 24:14.99 with Gonzaga's Samy Anderson second in 24:19.41.
Isaac Akiyama finished in 21st place with a time of 25:28.04. Alex McIntyre took 40th place (26:45.50). Nolan McLaughlin crossed in 45th place (27:06.78), just ahead of teammate Tommy Wirth (27:08.44).
The final men's team scores were: Gonzaga 28, Montana 43, Whitworth 100, Whitman 120, Puget Sound 137, Northwest Nazarene 156, Southwestern Oregon CC 172, Pacific Lutheran 244.
The Pirates will get a week off before competing at the Linfield Invitational on October 18th in McMinnville, Oregon.
