Season Heats Up for XC

McMinnville, OR - Trojan Cross Country hit the ground running at the Linfield Harrier Classic to get the 2024 season underway.  Both the men's 6k and women's 4k featured large fields of competitors hailing from NCAA DI, DII, DIII, NAIA, and NWAC schools.  The temperature was above 80 degrees during both races at The Nines Golf Course, but all 10 (freshman) Trojan athletes beat the heat and put up respectable times in their first ever collegiate meet. 

In the men's race, EvCC was led by Anthony Long out of Lake Stevens, WA.  He finished with a time of 20:00.3, and finished 50th overall out of 140 competitors.  Long was the second overall finisher among NWAC opponents, less than 6 seconds behind Talbot Friesen of Clackamas CC who was the first NWAC finisher.  Not too far behind Anthony was Charlie Roberts (Snohomish, WA) finishing with a time of 20:50.6 (8th NWAC finisher).  Rounding out the team scoring for EvCC was Isaiah Buckley and Andrew Schmitz who finished back to back at 22:39.5 and 22:41.3.  Jacob Doughty who specializes in middle distance track events, had a solid first race at 24:04.5 and beat out six other competitors helping EvCC finish ahead of Bushnell University in the team scoring. 

The women got the season going with a 4k race, and were led by Teagan Pentz from Everett.  She clocked in a time of 17:20.9 and was followed by teammate Taya Kilgore with a time of 17:38.1.  Pentz and Kilgore finished 7th & 8th respectively among NWAC competitors.  Amelia Koon, Ariel Rodriguez-Garcia, and Maria Isaza Marin finished 3,4,5 for EvCC to post a team score of 317, just 39 points behind Southwestern Oregon CC. 

Everett's next race will be on September 14th at Steilacoom Park in Lakewood, WA.  The race will be hosted by Green River College, and will feature several NWAC schools, which will give EvCC a good look at how they stack up against their competition.