Portland, OR - The men's and women's cross country team traveled back south to Oregon for the third time this season, in their final preparation race before the Northwest Region and NWAC Championship races. A few of the team members did not make the trip due to non-COVID related illness, but for those that did attend, it was an opportunity to race against hundreds of other runners from NCAA Division I, II, III and NAIA schools in addition to several NWAC competitors. The men raced first, and only four Trojans would make the trip so it was not enough to post a team score. However, three of the four posted season PR's, and redshirt freshman Jake Waterhouse got his first race action of the season and posted a time of 30:22 in his first ever collegiate 8k. Adolfo DeRobles once again led the Trojans with his fastest time of the season (26:38.1) and finished 8th among all 43 NWAC competitors. Josiah Nobles PR'd by 46 seconds and Alec Dimick PR'd by 16 seconds.
On the women's side, it was the return of sophomore Avery Daniels who has missed the first portion of the season due to triathlon training, and competed in her first collegiate 6k race since fall of 2016. Still, she posted a PR with a time of 24:58.9 and finished 9th among all NWAC competitors at a distance she does not run often. Fellow sophomore teammate Tracey Hatch completed her first career 6k posting a time of 25:17.8 and finished 10th among NWAC competitors. Freshman Patience Mwaura PR'd by 7 seconds as did Marcella Fuller by an astounding four whole minutes. Redshirt freshman Caelyn Foster ran in her first collegiate 6k as well and finished with a time of 30:50.6, which converts to a 25:24 5k and would be a 34 second season PR.
The Trojans will have two weeks to prepare for the Northwest Region Meet on October 30th in Bremerton, WA, which will feature some very competitive teams from Whatcom CC, Green River College, Pierce College, and hosts Olympic College. This will be the first meet of the season featuring exclusively NWAC competitors and will be the final test before the NWAC Championship meet on November 13th at Chambers Creek Park in University Place, WA.