SALEM, Ore. – Yet another program record fell today during the Corban University Men's and Women's Cross Country teams' appearances at the 50th Charles Bowles Willamette Invitational, as the Warriors battled to a 13th place men's team finish and a 14th place women's team placement amid over 30+ programs in action ranging from NCAA DI to junior colleges originating from up and down across the western United States. NCAA DIII Willamette University hosted the annual meet at Bush Park, which is just a six-mile drive from the foot of Corban's campus in downtown Salem.
To view the complete results from today's cross country meet, click HERE.
"Three of our top five guys had good races today," Corban associate head coach Stuart Eagon shared earlier today regarding the men's race. "Unfortunately, Braydon is still sick and we lost about a hundred placements because of that. We are hopeful that he will be over his sickness and we will stay healthy as a team over the rest of the season. It is cool for Jack that he was able to set a school record today. We were still 25 seconds faster on total time than we were for our top five at the same race last year, even with potentially losing 100 seconds from Braydon's sickness. We will need to be better at our two and three in the next meet if we want to continue pursuing a national meet qualification."
The No. 9-nationally ranked Warrior men's program had nearly their entire roster in action today for the first time all season, with junior Jack Gladfelter making his presence known once again within the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) as the top finisher from any non-NCAA DI program in attendance. Gladfelter placed sixth overall among the over 300 total participants with his final time of 23:52.72, setting a personal best and breaking the program record in doing so. He bested Corban legend Robert Swoboda's all-time best 8k mark of 23:54.0 that was set in the fall of 2023 when Gladfelter was running as a true freshman alongside Swoboda, providing Gladfelter with yet another Corban record in just the start of his junior campaign.
Following Gladfelter in the Warrior team standings today was senior Zander Moha (25:10.29) who placed 54th, while brothers Bennet Mason (25:34.43) and Logan Mason (26:09.64) who competed in their first collegiate race together today finished in 83rd and 121st, respectively. Despite fighting through an illness, junior Braydon Lee (26:22.27) was able to finish in 134th for the final team scorer, while true freshman Kai Kearns (26:47.54) represented the sixth tiebreaker team scorer in 158th.
Nine more members of the Navy and Gold competed today for the Corban men's cross country team, including: freshman Samuel Bonsell (27:16.75 – 191st), freshman Julius Pokorny (27:23.09 – 195th), senior Noah Andres (27:27.48 – 199th), senior Nathan Pfaff (27:30.75 – 206th), freshman Garrett Frongner (28:23.74 – 251st), junior Jamin Potloff (30:31.10 – 299th), freshman Stephen Crover (30:44.03 – 305th), freshman Kirby McNeil (31:01.85 – 310th), and freshman Ethan DeyArmin (31:22.55 – 314th).
"I think today was the fastest average the women at Corban have had in about seven or eight years," Coach Eagon stated when asked about the women's performances. "I'm very proud of the ladies and how much we are improving. We were very good at one through four today and I think we will be much stronger at five in the next meet when we have Anna, Kate, and Josie working together with Amelia. It is possible that the women's team could make nationals this year, which is very exciting, and we will need to stay very engaged with sleep and taking care of our bodies in order to do so."
A new personal best finish in the women's 5k race for senior Abigail Oosterhout resulted in a new No. 6 all-time mark in Corban women's program history, as she finished with an 18:15.70 to finish in 37th overall amid the 285-woman race containing numerous nationally respected squads. Sophomore Carrie Babcock nearly clinched a top 50 performance as well, placing 52nd with a final time of 18:35.30.
In her first race of the fall season as she simultaneously suits up as a starter on the Corban women's soccer team whilst competing for Warrior women's cross country, sophomore Shaelee Killorn (19:25.40) raced to a 105th place finish and just narrowly edged out true freshman Adaline McDowell (19:25.90) for the third overall Corban finish. Freshman Amelia Anstrand (20:49.20) completed her race in 185th for the final team scoring student-athlete for the Navy and Gold, while sophomore Makayla Rose (21:55.50) provided the sixth if-necessary scoring placement in 229th.
Two more Warriors crossed the finish line in today's race that weren't counted towards the team scoring, which were junior Johnna Waddell (21:57.40) and sophomore Emalie Lindberg (22:20.20) who completed the course within nine placements of each other in 230th and 238th, respectively.
The Warrior long-distance crews will next be in action two weeks from today on Saturday, October 18th at the George Oja Invitational, hosted by NCAA DIII Linfield University at the Oak Knoll Golf Course across the Willamette River in Independence. This meet will also serve as the 2025 CCC Preview Meet for the eventual CCC Championships that Corban is scheduled to host on November 7th at Oak Knoll.
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