Freeby Wins Women's Race at Oak Knoll Loop Run

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

INDEPENDENCE, ORE. -- Michaela Freeby (Jr., Milwaukie, OR/Rex Putnam HS) from Willamette University won the women's 5-kilometer race in 17:23.16 at the Oak Knoll Loop Run on Saturday, Sept. 21 at the Oak Knoll Golf Course. Olivia Mancl (Fr., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS) of Willamette placed third in the women's race, while Taylor Ostrander (So., Soldotna, AK/Kenai Central HS) finished sixth.

In the men's 8-kilometer race, Kit Kingstad (Sr., Beaverton, OR/Beaverton HS) took fourth place with a time of 25:11.00.

Freeby set a personal record and moved into third place on Willamette's all-time top 10 list for 5 kilometers. She trails only Sarah Zerzan ('08) at 16:49.4 in 2006 and Maddie Coffman ('09) at 17:18.68 in 2008.

On Saturday, Freeby won the Loop Run by 7.05 seconds. Sarah Dean from Portland State University was second at 17:30.21. Mancil finished third for WU in 18:00.35, while Cheryn Trapp of PSU was fourth at 18:03.79.

Fifth place was earned by Julia Gullikson from the University of Portland with a time of 18:04.65. Ostrander's time in sixth place was 18:05.02 for the Bearcats.

Portland State won the women's team title with a score of 37 (2-4-8-10-13-14). Portland followed in second place at 44 and Willamette was third at 51. Western Oregon University placed fourth with a score of 125, while Clackamas Community College was fifth at 149 and Mount Hood Community College was sixth at 160.

Rounding out Willamette's team score behind Freeby, Mancl and Ostrander were Hannah Bressler (So., Oak Harbor, WA/Oak Harbor HS) in 20th place and Annette Marinello (Jr., Corvallis, OR/Philomath HS) in 21st place. Bressler finished the race in 19:07.08 and Marinello was timed at 19:07.12. Ami Boucher (Fr., Concord, CA/Northgate HS) was 22nd in 19:11.73.

A total of 46 runners competed in the women's race.

The men's race was won by Keegan Symmes, who competed unattached. His time was 24:57.90 and he was victorious by 8.25 seconds. Jorge Gill-Juarez of Clackamas CC placed second in 25:06.15 and Jeff Thies, running unattached, finished third at 25:10.84.

Kingstad followed in fourth place just over two seconds later, while Andrew Landstrom of PSU took fifth place in 25:15.16. A total of 55 competitors participated in the men's race.

The second WU runners to complete the men's Loop Run was Jacob Shafi (So., Pleasanton, CA/Amador Valley HS), who was timed at 26:11.49 and took 16th place. Yonny Castillo (So., Parkdale, OR/Hood River Valley HS) of Willamette was 23rd in 26:33.68.

Also among Willamette's top five finishers were Dylan Tooley (Fr., Denver, CO/Denver East HS) and Hunter Matthies (So., Moran, WY/Jackson Hole HS). Tooley was 28th overall in 27:08.28 and Matthies was 29th at 27:09.51.

Willamette is off next weekend, but will return to action by hosting the 39th Annual Charles Bowles Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 5 at Bush's Pasture Park in Salem, Ore. Each year, the Charles Bowles Invitational is one of the largest collegiate cross country meets on the West Coast. The first race is set to begin at 9:30 a.m. (PDT).