Willamette Men's Cross Country Competes at Bill Dellinger Invitational

By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

EUGENE, ORE. -- Leo Castillo (Jr., Parkdale, OR/Hood River Valley HS) placed 24th overall in the men's 8-kilometer race at the Bill Dellinger Invitational. hosted by the University of Oregon on Saturday, Oct. 16. The meet was held at Pre's Trail in Alton Baker Park. Castillo recorded a time of 24:38.62.

The Bill Dellinger Invitational included three nationally ranked NCAA Division I teams. They were the University of Oregon, ranked #3, the University of Portland, ranked #8, and the University of Wisconsin, ranked #11. Willamette's men entered the meet ranked #15 in NCAA Division III. Also competing on Saturday were the University of Idaho, Portland State University and the University of Guelph from Ontario, Canada.

Oregon took first place in the team standings with a score of 26. Wisconsin was second at 38, Guelph finished third at 75, Portland and Idaho tied for fourth at 123, Willamette was sixth at 171 and Portland State was seventh with a score of 191.

Castillo was one of two WU runners in the Top 30. Stefan Redfield (Sr., Sisters, OR/Sisters HS) placed 27th with a time of 24:42.62.

Ryan McLaughlin (Sr., Milwaukie, OR/Milwaukie HS) was 52nd at 25:52.51. Kevin Aubol (So., Ellensburg, WA/Ellensburg HS) was just over two seconds behind McLaughlin to take 53rd at 25:54.86.

The individual champion was Matthew Centrowitz of Oregon, who earned a time of 23:38.11 to win by just two-hundredths of a second over teammate Luke Puskedra, whose time was 23:38.13. Danny Mercado of Oregon was third at 23:42.15 and Maverick Darling from Wisconsin was fourth at 23:42.82. Landon Peacock of Wisconsin placed fifth as he completed the course in 23:44.73.

Willamette will run again on Saturday, Oct. 23 at the Beaver Classic, hosted by Oregon State University. The meet is slated to start at 9:45 a.m. at Avery Park in Corvallis, Ore.