Bearcat Men Finish Fourth at UW-Oshkosh, Swanson is Second in Women's Race
By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
WINNECONNE, Wis. -- Led by Keith Carlson (Jr., Bainbridge Island, WA//Bainbridge HS) in fifth place and Michael Montague (So., San Diego, CA/Canyon Crest Academy) in eighth place, the Willamette University men's cross country team took fourth place at the UW-Oshkosh Kollege Town Sports Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 14. Hannah Swanson (Sr., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS) of Willamette took second place in the women's race.
The huge tournament, featuring primarily NCAA Division III athletes, included 26 teams and 351 runners in the men's 8-kilometer race. The women's 6-kilometer race involved 24 teams and 353 runners. Willamette did not field a compelte women's team.
Swanson trailed only Cheyenne Moore from University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in the women's race. Moore completed the course in 22:10.29. Swanson finsihed in 22:35.69. Patricia Harrison from Moddy Bible Insitute (Ill.) was third at 22:39.51, while Emma Roberts from Benedictine University (Ill.) was fourth at 22:40.24. Rachel House of Heidelberg College (Ohio) took fifth place in 22:43.16.
St. Norbert College (Wis.) won the women's team title by earning a score of 93 (9-10-18-27-29). North Central College (Ill.) placed second at 116, with UW-Oshkosh in third at 146. Augustana College (Ill.) followed in fourth place at 150. Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.) was fifth at 169, while Carroll College (Wis.) was sixth at 194 and Lake Forest College (Ill.) was seventh at 216.
Swanson was one of four Willamette runners who competed in the women's race and placed in the top 40. Kyla Shade (So., Snohomish, WA/Snohomish HS) was 28th overall in 24:02.39. Hazel Carr (Jr., Seattle, WA/The Northwest School) placed 32nd with a time of 24:09.16. Emily Evans (Jr., Anchorage, AK/South Anchorage HS) reached the finish line in 24:17.89 for 37th place.
Winning the men's individual championship was Nathan Routheri, who competed unattached. His time was 25:20.6. Austin Neura from Heidelberg was second after crossing the finish line in 25:23.2. Josh Janusiak from Lawrence University (Wis.) took third place at 25:37.2.
Fourth place and fifth place were separated by less than one second. Lucass Weber from UW-Oshkosh was fourth at 25:39.2, and Carlson of Willamette was fifth at 25:39.9.
Two runners from Augustana finished together at 25:50.5 to take sixth and seventh. Mitchell Johnson was credited with sixth place and Brandon Wilkerson took seventh. Montague from Willamette was next in eighth place with a time of 25:54.2. Michael Juarez of UW-Oshkosh grabbed ninth place at 25:57.0, and Wesley Meyer from Olivet Nazarene was 10th at 25:59.1.
Augustana registered the top score of 97 (5-6-14-20-52) to win the men's team title. UW-Oshkosh placed second at 108, while Olivet Nazarene was third at 116. Willamette achieved a score of 134 for fourth place, with Wheaton College (Ill.) in fifth at 148 and Carthage College (Wis.) in sixth at 171. Heidelberg earned eighth place at 184.
In addition to Carlson and Montague, other runners for the Bearcat men's team were Ross Enlow (Sp., Unalaska, AK/Unalaska HS), Ricardo Castillo-Flores (Jr./Sr., Hood River, OR/Hood River Valley HS), Kellen Bulger (So., Spokane, WA/Ferris HS) and Max Frankel (Fr., Richmond, VA/Maggie L. Walker Governor's School). Enlow placed 28th in 26:38.5, while Castillo-Flores was 48th at 26:58.2, and Bulger was 65th at 27:11.09. Frankel placed 109th in 28:24.1.
Willamette will compete at the 2017 Northwest Conference Championship on Saturday, Oct. 28 at Veteran's Memorial Golf Course in Walla Walla, Washington. The action is slated to begin at 10 a.m. (PDT).