Reynolds Wins NWC Championship, Loggers Take 5th, 6th
WALLA WALLA, Wash. - Junior Francis Reynolds (Palo Alto, Calif.) won the 2008 Northwest Conference Cross Country Championship on Saturday morning at Veterans Memorial Golf Course in Walla Walla, Wash. Reynolds beat his nearest competitor by about 50 seconds as the Logger men placed fifth as a team. The women took sixth in the second race of the day.
On the men's side, Reynolds blew away the competition, finishing the eight-kilometer course in 24:35.24 to finish well ahead of second-place Nicholas Gallagher of Whitworth, who finished with a time of 25:26.74. Jesse Baldridge (Piedmont, Calif.) was the second Logger across the line, finishing in 35th place with a time of 27:07.22. Whitworth took the team title with 43 points. Willamette was second, followed by Lewis & Clark, Linfield, Puget Sound, Whitman, Pacific Lutheran, George Fox and Pacific.
In the women's race, Emma Kelsey (Bayside, Calif./Arcata) was the first UPS runner across the line, taking eighth place with a time of 22:32.16, just over a minute behind individual champion Maddie Coffman of Willamette. Hayley Walker (Cambria, Calif./Coast Union) took 23rd with a time of 23:29.96 as the Loggers took sixth place with a team score of 142. Willamette won the team title with a score of 42.
The Loggers will now begin training for the NCAA Division III West Region Championship on Nov. 15 at Bush Park in Salem, Ore.
