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Bruins
make strides
as NWC championships |
By B. Scott Anderson, Newberg
Graphic sports editor
E-mail Scott at banderson@eaglenewspapers.com
|
FOREST GROVE — The George Fox University Bruins finished fourth in the
men’s race and sixth in the women’s competition in the Northwest Conference
Cross Country Championships Saturday.
Favored Willamette University came up just one individual champion short of a
clean sweep of the competition, winning both the men’s 8K and the women’s 6K
races and the men’s individual title.
On the men’s side Willamette placed its top six runners in the top 10 to
win the meet with 25 points. It is the third-straight championship for the Bearcats and
the 14th in school history. The University of Puget Sound finished second with 50 points,
followed by Whitworth College with 115, George Fox 118, Linfield College 127, Pacific
Lutheran University 146, Whitman College 178, Lewis & Clark College 207 and host
Pacific University 217.
The Bruins jumped four spots from last year’s eighth-place finish thanks to
Bruins Craig Paulin, Michael Owen and Matt Burg, who narrowly missed All-Conference honors
(which go to the top 14 runners in the NWC meet) by finishing 15th, 16th, and 18th,
respectively, overall.
On the women’s side, Willamette placed its top five runners in the top
11 to finish with a Bearcat team score of 33.
Whitworth finished second with 79 points, followed by Lewis & Clark with
100, Linfield 106, Puget Sound 139, George Fox 147, Pacific Lutheran 154, Whitman 181, and
Pacific 234.
The Bruins improved three places from 2002’s ninth-place finish.
Leighann Fischer led the Bruins for the seventh event in a row and earned second
team all-conference honors by placing 12th overall with a time of 22:42.96. Other Bruins
who counted for the team score were Kaycee Brittian, 25th at 23:31.56; Whittney Harris,
31st at 23:39.82; Janelle Goeres, 38th at 24:02.59; and Beth Moyer, 52nd at 24:55.16.
The mens team’s fourth-place finish gives the Bruins a chance to qualify
for the nationals by running fast races at the NCAA Division III West Regionals Nov. 15 at
McIver State Park in Estacada.
“Our men were only three points behind Whitworth for third place and
with a little bit of improvement our men might have an outside shot at the
nationals,” said GFU coach Wes Cook. “I know our two seniors, Michael Owen and
Matt Burg, felt as though they should have done better and are looking forward to the
regional.”
The Bruins are among the long shots at qualifying for the national
championships, which will be run at Hanover College in Hanover, Ind., Nov. 22. The West
Region boasts three nationally-ranked teams, including Willamette (No. 5), Colorado
College (No. 21), Puget Sound (No. 25). Pomona-Pitzer was ranked until two weeks ago.
“It’s a tough field, and we’ll have to run our very best but
McIver is a course we are familiar with and that may give us a slight edge over some of
the teams who haven’t run it in a while,” Cook said. |
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From Nov. 5,
2003, Newberg Graphic
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