Men's Cross Country | 01.29.2021

WOMEN'S RESULTS | MEN'S RESULTS

COTTAGE GROVE, Oregon – Lewis-Clark State Cross Country finally returned to action after the season was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Warriors competed at the Bushnell Invitational at the Middlefield Golf Course, and both teams placed runners in the top 10. The LC State men had a strong showing and placed first as a team with 33 points, led by senior Cole Olsen who placed first individually. The Warrior women finished third in the 5k with 57 points and were led by Rylee Brown.
 
Oregon Tech, Northwest and Bushnell all competed as well.
 
"It's been so long that since we've been competitive and raced that regardless of outcome, we just needed to have a race," Head Coach Mike Collins said. "Both teams were in that boat and a lot of teams here haven't raced in over a year and some of the teams we competed against today actually raced this course back in November, so we might have felt like we had a little bit of the disadvantage. That wasn't really the important part of today. Today was to get a race in, give us something to work off of, and hopefully look forward."
 
THE MEN
 
The LC State men had four runners in the top 10. Olsen led all runners and placed first with a time of 24:50. He won the race by four seconds. Fellow returning All-American Clayton Vandyke had a strong race as well and finished third (25:26). Connor Turpin and Chase Barrow rounded out the top 10 and pushed one another to the end. They finished eighth and ninth, respectively, with times of 26:16 and 26:18.
 
"It was really nice to just get back into it and it was fun to actually race against other people," Olsen said. "We might not be where we want to be yet but we have a high morale and we're excited now. I felt good, I know I definitely have more in me, but it was a good first start."
 
Dillon Dawson placed 12th with a time of 26:36 and freshman Drew Larson followed closely behind in 13th (26:40). Two more freshman followed Larson, with David Phillis placing 16th (27:25) and Carter Gordon finishing in 20th (28:16). Alejandro Martinez came in 26th (29:40).
 
"The men did well today," Collins said. "Obviously coming in, it's a team with history and some high expectations. Seeing how that played out in a small meet and shaking the rust off, I think this is a team that is going to get better as we get more physically trained and more prepared there. In general, Cole's performance today and the gap between one and five was good and there was a nice mix of a couple of our freshmen in that top group today too, so it's a very deep team and I'm excited to see where they're going to go." 
  
THE WOMEN
 
Junior Rylee Brown lead the Warrior women with a seventh-place overall finish at 19:20. Sophomore Maja Plaznik followed close behind in eighth (19:29) to round out the top 10.
 
"I felt pretty strong. Today was a good confidence booster, especially heading into a new conference and not really knowing what to expect. I am really proud of the way Maja competed today and it helped me so much racing next to her" Brown said. "I'm just glad to finally be racing again and get back in the swing of things. I felt like today was a strong start for us to build off of."
 
Freshmen Geraldin Correa and Abigail Gorton placed 13th and 14th, respectively, with times of 20:10.5 and 20:10.9, followed by sophomore Abigail Peightal in 15th (20:17). Kelsey Henry finished 20th (21:37) and Carli Jones ran a 22:04, placing just behind in 21st. Freshman Madison Howe finished in 25th (22:52).
 
"It's a pretty diverse group we have this year with the women" Collins said. "We have a big group of returning veterans as well as a big group of new freshmen, so I wasn't sure exactly how it would go. Just getting a chance to race together to see where we were at was pretty important. There are some things both physically and mentally that we can improve on. If our goal is to make it to nationals, we've got to make some big improvements, and this is a group that can definitely do that. We've got a lot of talent here, so it's just a matter of getting it out there and putting it together."
 
The Warriors host the first of two home meets on Feb. 12. The LC State Winter Invitational 1 will take place at the course in the Orchards.