All-American Kaylee Mitchell wins women's 6k at PLU Invite as Falcons sweep team titles...
Mitchell, the third place finisher at the GNAC championships and an All-American in cross country in 2018, cruised to a 27-second victory over teammate Kate Lilly, running 21:05 over the 6-kilometer course.
Dania Holmberg of the Falcons finished fifth in 22:05, followed by a gap of one minute before their fourth runner, Kelsey Washenberger came in ninth at 23:05, while Katherine Walter rounded out the SPU scorers in tenth at 23:08.
Despite a 2:03 gap between Mitchell and Walter, the Falcons, who entered the meet as the nation’s number 8 team in Division II, easily won the meet with a low of 24 points, followed by Whitman’s 64 and Whitworth’s 103 points.
The University of Puget Sound was sixth with 147 points, while host Pacific Lutheran was seventh at 149.
In the men’s 8k race, Colin Monaghan of Puget Sound took the win in 25:21, followed by Sean Richardson of Lewis & Clark at 25:35, and Colby Otero of Seattle Pacific at 25:48.
Following Otero for SPU were Colin Boutin in fifth at 26:12, Jared Putney in seventh at 26:16, Elius Graff in 12th at 26:37, and Sheamus Mahoney in 13th at 26:40. The Falcons had a 52-second split between Otero and Mahoney.
The Falcons replicated the women’s squad’s team victory, scoring a low of 40, with host Pacific Lutheran second at 71, and Lewis & Clark third at 87.
Complete results of the PLU Invitational are available here.
In Monmouth, Oregon, both Central Washington cross country teams earned identical sixth place finishes Friday at the Sundowner Invitational, hosted by Western Oregon University on the site of the NCAA Western Regionals in November.
In the men’s 8k race, Trevor Allen completed the course in 25:06.0 to place ninth for the Wildcats.
Henry Milodragovich was the team's next best finisher with a time of 26:07. The time was good enough for a 39th place finish. Just one spot behind was Rajesh Gill. Gill ran the course in 26:13. One spot behind Gill was Donovan Barnhart, who ran 26:14.
The last of the point scorers was Garrett Hough, who took 43rd with a time of 26:17, to give the Wildcats a final team score of 155 points.
Biola took the men’s team title with 38 points, led by overall winner Gabs Plendcio, who ran 24:37.
In the women’s 6k, Molly Mattson was the the top finisher for the Wildcat women, as she ran the 6k race in 23:26. The time was good enough for a 15th place finish. Lily Tyrrell also earned a top 20 finish for the Wildcats. Tyrrell took 20th with a time of 23:35. Newcomer Ashley Arreola was 33rd in 23:59.
Caitlin Gohr and Kristina Ihlen rounded out the runners who recorded scores for the Wildcats. Gohr took 41st with a time of 24:21 while Ihlen finished one spot behind with a time of 24:23, to score 149 points.
The Portland Pilots took the women’s team title with 43 points, led by winner Victoria Weir, who ran 22:18.
Central Washington’s recap along with a link to results are available here.
NOTE: The sports information offices of Pacific Lutheran, Seattle Pacific, and Central Washington University contributed to this report.
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