WEEKEND ROUNDUP: Saints sweep Puget Sound Invite; Mackey eighth in Fifth Avenue Mile...

At Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood, the Saint Martin’s Saints were the first Washington Division II school to open its season, and they did so by sweeping the Puget Sound Invitational hosted by Division III University of Puget Sound.

In the women’s 6k, Shannon Porter (left/photo courtesy Saint Martin’s Sports Information) was an easy winner, covering the 6k course in 20:36, winning by nearly 3 minutes over runner-up Shailee Woodard of Pacific Lutheran, who ran 23:34.

Behind Porter, the Saints finished 4-5-9-10 to score a team low 29 to nip host Puget Sound by 6 points.  Pacific Lutheran was third with 77, followed by Green River CC at 103, and Olympic College’s 126.

In the men’s competition, Germia Lizier-Zmudzinski of Puget Sound was a 15-second winner over Saint Martin’s Skyler Larson, 26:43 to 26:58 over an 8-k course.

Saint Martin’s went 2-3-4-8-9 to handily beat Puget Sound 26-45.  Pacific Lutheran was third with 54, followed by Olympic College with 118.

According to SMU coach Jim Brewer, "Both our men and women ran really well. In the women's race, Shannon took an early lead and held on to it for the whole race setting a new course record. We had three women in the top five and five in the top 10. Several of our women had an amazing performance."

"On the men's side the highlight was seeing our men really compete and have a solid pack with just over a minute spread between our number one and number five. Our men managed to repeat the women's effort by having five in the top 10 and winning the meet."

Saint Martin’s, which is picked to finish 11th in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference pre-season men’s coaches’ poll, and ninth on the women’s side, next competes on the 17th at the Sundodger Invitational hosted by the University of Washington at Lincoln Park in Seattle.

Complete results of the Puget Sound Invitational are available here.

In New York Saturday, University of Washington alum Katie Mackey of the Brooks Beasts finished eighth Saturday in the New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile through the streets of New York, running 4:23.5, as Olympic 1500m bronze medalist Jenny Simpson took the win in 4:18.3.

In the men’s Fifth Avenue Mile, Riley Masters of the Brooks Beasts was 13th in 3:55.8, as former Oregon Duck Eric Jenkins of the Nike Oregon Project (3:49.4) upset his teammate and Olympic 1500m gold medalist Matthew Centrowitz (3:49.5).

Complete results of the New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile are available here.

NOTE:  The sports information office of Saint Martin’s University and the New York Road Runners contributed to this report.