The Whitworth men’s cross country team has been working hard. This past Saturday, Sept. 30, the men’s cross country team made the 8 hour drive to rainy Salem, Oregon to run in the 43nd annual Charles Bowles Willamette Invitational. Through rainy and cool conditions, the men raced to an impressive 11th out of 17 teams in the NCAA race, which consisted of a combination of division I, II, and III teams.  Out of the Northwest conference they finished 4th out of the 8 teams that were present at the meet.The pirates placed ahead of Whitman by 32 points, followed by Linfield, Pacific (Ore.), and Puget Sound.

In cross country the top five from each team score, the sixth and seventh runners have the opportunity to out place other sixth and seventh runners from opposing teams, and the lowest score wins. This weekend the men scored a 260.  

Leading the team was senior Grant Bingham, who finished the 8k in 26:00.5. Senior Dan Harper crossed the finish line shortly after in 26:07, followed by freshman Jacob Clark in 26:39.8, William Glick, ‘21 in 26:42, and to finish off the scoring, freshman Matthew Christianson crossed the line in 26:58.5. Matthew Creagan, ‘20, Brian Ault ‘18, and Nathaniel Anderson, ‘20 also ran very strong races.

Every course is different, and this weekend the course took the competitors on a run through Bush’s Pasture Park which consisted of grass, running through trails, and ended up with a 300 meter finish on the track.

Up next for the Bucs is the Lewis & Clark Invitational on Saturday Oct. 14 where they will travel back to Oregon.