Willamette Women are 11th, Men are 12th, at UW-Oshkosh; Mancl Finishes 6th

By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

WINNECONNE, Wis. -- Olivia Mancl (Sr., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS) of Willamette University took sixth place out of 528 runners in the women's 6-kilometer race, helping the Bearcats claim 11th place in the team standings at the UW-Oshkosh Kollege Town Sports Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 15 at the Lake Breeze Golf Course.

Willamette earned 12th place in the men's team standings. Patrick Loftus (Jr., Santa Rosa, CA/Sonoma Academy) led the Bearcats by placing 66th out of 551 runners in the 8-kilometer race.

Mancl's time in the women's race was 21:44.93. Hannah Swanson (Jr., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS) crossed the finish line in 22:30.17 to place 20th overall. Ami Boucher (Sr., Concord, CA/Northgate HS) was 63rd (60th among scorers) after completing the race in 23:13.70.

Also competing for the WU women's team were Jamie Smith (Fr., Seattle, WA/Ballard HS), Emily Evans (So., Anchorage, AK/South Anchorage HS) and Hazel Carr (So., Seattle, WA/The Northwest School). Smith ran the course in 23:51.55. Evans recorded a time of 24:02.29. Carr reached the finish in 24:30.39.

Washington University (Mo.) took first place in the women's team stanidngs with a score of 94 (2-7-14-34-37). Calvin College (Mich.) was second at 113, while University of Chicago (Ill.) was third at 137. St. Norbert College (Wis.) placed fourth at 173. Hope College (Mich) attained fifth place at 210.

Loftus registered a time of 26:08.5 for the Bearcats in the men's race. He was 51st among scorers. Ryan Morris-McDermott (So., Orinda, CA/Miramonte HS) of WU was 90th overall (70th in scoring) with a time of 26:23.7. Keith Carlson (So., Bainbridge Island, WA//Bainbridge HS) was 95th (74th in scoring) at 26:28.6.

Other runners for the Willamette men's team were Michael Montague (Fr., San Diego, CA/Canyon Crest Academy), Ricardo Castillo-Flores (So./Jr., Hood River, OR/Parkdale HS), and Ross Enlow (Fr., Unalaska, AK/Unalaska HS). Montague was timed at 26:32.3, while Castillo-Flores earned a time of 26:44.4, and Enlow completed the race in 26:45.7. All six Willamette runners finished within a span of 37.2 seconds.

North Central College (Ill.) won the men's title with a score of 24 (1-3-4-6-10). University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire was second at 73, with Calvin in third place at 109. Washington (Mo.) achieved fourth place at 141 and Ohio Northern University was fifth at 197.

Individual titles were won by Erin Hermann from Hope in the women's race and by Zack Plank from North Central in the men's race.

Hermann crossed the finish line in 21:22.48. She was followd by Aly Wayne from Washington (Mo.) in second place at 21:26.89. Erin Artz from St. Norbert was third at 21:29.14. Lauren Strohbehn of Calvin was fourth in 21:43.97, and Johanna Admiraal, also from Calvin, was fifth in 21:44.28. Mancl followed in sixth at 21:44.93, finishing less than a second out of fourth place.

Plank earned the men's title in 24:46.2. Darin Lau from UW-Eau Claire took second place in 24:55.5. Ethan Adlfinger of North Central was third at 25:02.8, and Al Baldonado of North Central was fourth at 25:03.0. Fifth place went to Brett Harms from University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 25:08.6. Dhruvil Patel from North Central was sixth at 25:11.0.

Nine nationally ranked men's teams and eight nationally ranked women's teams in NCAA Division III competed during the meet. Willamette entered the weekend ranked #35 in both men's cross country and women's cross country. Overall, there were 37 men's teams and 36 women's teams participating in the meet.

Willamette will compete at the Northwest Conference Championships on Saturday, Oct. 29 at Willamette Mission State Park in Oregon. George Fox University will host the meet. Action is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. (PDT).