MCMINNVILLE, OR – The Redhawks kicked off their 2023 cross country season on Friday, September 1st at the Linfield Harrier Classic in McMinnville, Oregon. The women's team finished third overall in the 4k while the men's team finished fourth overall in the 6k. See the results here.
"Solid starts for both teams, the women especially considering they were up against four outstanding programs in Oregon, Oregon State, University of Portland and Portland State" says head coach Kelly Sullivan. "On the men's side it was a good chance to see the new freshman and transfers competing. We didn't race everyone on both sides so the season looks very promising" he continues.
The women's team was led in the 4k by sophomore Azalea Groleau, who finished eighth overall with a time of 13:57.1. Groleau was followed closely by Emily Harris and Lilianne Hargreaves who finished eighth and thirteenth, with times of 14:07.6 and 14:13.2 respectively. The women's team scored a total of 77 points and finished third out of thirteen teams. The Redhawks beat the nationally ranked University of Portland team, who finished fourth overall with a total of 88 points. Nationally ranked teams Oregon State and University of Oregon finished in first and second place, with total scores of 36 and 40 points respectively.
In his first race with the Redhawks, grad transfer from Winthrop University Yonas Sauers impressed by leading the men's team and finishing fourteenth overall with a time of 18:37.4. Sophomore Khalid Hirsi and junior Lance Mason were not too far behind Sauers, finishing twenty-ninth and forty-fifth overall with times of 19:19.6 and 19:34.6 respectively. The men's team scored a total of 124 points finishing in fourth place out of fourteen teams. The University of Portland, a nationally ranked team, won the race with 23 points. Nationally ranked University of Oregon followed with 41 points, trailed by Corban University with 98 points.
The team will have four weeks to prepare for their next race on September 30th at the Charles Bowles Invitational in Salem, Oregon. The Redhawks will return to the event after the women's team's impressive first place win in the 5k at the race last season.
WOMENS 4K RESULTS:
- Azalea Groleau: 13:57.1
- Emily Harris: 14:07.6
- Lilianne Hargreaves: 14:13.2
- Caitlyn O'Neil: 14:49.3
- Diana Camargo Solis: 15:16.1
- Julie Smith: 22:18.1
MENS 6K RESULTS:
- Yonas Sauers: 18:37.4
- Khalid Hirsi: 19:19.6
- Lance Mason: 19:34.6
- Zack Sundt: 19:52.3
- Alex Jensen: 20:04.8
- Dan Barreto: 20:09.1
- Parker Wagnild: 20:30.0
- Aidan Loeffelman: 21:14.4
- Diego Razo-Castaneda: 22:00.9