Women place 9th, men 15th, at Sundodger

SEATTLE, Wash. - The Whittier College men's and women's cross country teams finished 15th and ninth, respectively, on Saturday morning at the Sundodger Invitational hosted by the University of Washington. The wet conditions didn't deter the runners as the top five women and top three men finished in the top 50 percent of the field of Division I, II, III and NAIA schools.

Michele Callaway returned to form with a 30th-place finish in the 6K run. She crossed the line fifth out of all the Division III entries in a time of 23:02.02.

Molly Litherland and Candace Wray completed the race less than four seconds apart. Litherland clocked in at 23:52.90, good enough for 62nd-place, and Wray finished in 23:56.57 in 66th-place.

The women's open field had a total of 202 runners.

Darlene Partida was the fourth finisher for Whittier in a time of 24:22.96 (89th) and Christine Verduzco rounded out the top five for WC in a time of 24:24:72 (92nd).

As a team the women finished right in the middle as they competed against a total of 18 teams. SCIAC rival Occidental placed eighth as a team while fellow West Region competitors Lewis & Clark and Whitworth came in at sixth and third, each, respectively.

The men were led by Kevin Mancilla who placed 47th with a time of 26:29.89. Travis Airola was close behind in a time of 26:36.20 for a 57th-place finish and Juan Bustos was the third member of the men's team to finish in the top half of the field.

Bustos ran a 27:31.65 for 105th-place in the 8K run.

Bryce Holewinski and Marco Leone were the fourth and fifth Whittier runners across the line in times of 27:41.87 and 27:53.16, respectively.

The men's field had a total of 211 runners and 20 teams that included Division III schools Whitworth, Lewis & Clark, Puget Sound and Occidental.

The Poets take a week off before they return to action on October 3 for the Regional Preview Meet.

Men's Results: Sundodger Invitational 8K
Women's Results: Sundodger Invitational 6K