ESTACADA, ORE. -- A group of Willamette University cross country runners competed at the Lewis & Clark Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 18 at McIver Park. With Willamette also running at the AAE Invitational in Wisconsin, the Bearcats were represented at the L&C Invitational by four runners from the men's team and three runners from the women's team. WU did not earn team scores.

The top finisher for the Bearcats in the women's 6-kilometer race was Heather Pearson (Fr., Mukiteo, WA/Kamiak HS). She achieved a time of 24:19.90 and placed 30th out of 138 runners.

Iris Dowd (So., Portland, OR/St. Mary's Academy) of Willamette completed the course in 24:44.50 and took 48th place. Maisie Blaufuss (Fr., Nashville, TN/Hume Fogg Academic HS) also competed for the Bearcats.

Georgia Glovatsky from Mount Hood Community College won the women's race in 22:20.70. She was followed by Julia Wood from Whitman College, who placed second in 22:39.50. Third place went to Kellyn Roiko from Whitworth University with a time of 22:47.60.

Whitworth won the women's team title with a score of 48. Whitman placed second at 54 points, while University of Puget Sound took third at 84.

In the men's 8-kilometer race, Ben Mow (Sr., Granite Falls, WA/Granite Falls HS) placed 50th for Willamette out of 152 runners and registered a time of 27:05.20. Michael Underwood (Jr., Palo Alto, CA/Henry M. Gunn HS), Shelby Decker (Jr., Las Vegas, NV/Arbor View HS) and Ian Gilbert (Fr., Moraga, CA/Campolindo HS) also competed for the Bearcats.

The men's individual title was earned by Matthew Clowes from Concordia University (Ore.) in 24:50.20. Paul Adams from Oregon Institute of Technology was second at 25:21.60, and Isaac Mitchell of Northwest Nazarene University placed third at 25:28.10.

Northwest Christian University won the men's team championship with a score of 82. Oregon Tech was second at 113 and Concordia was third at 115.

Willamette's next competition will be the Northwest Conference Championships, which the Bearcats will host at Bush's Pasture Park in Salem, Ore., on Saturday, Nov. 1. The first race is schedule to begin at 10 a.m. (PDT).