The Evergreen State College senior Alauna Carstens won the women’s 6-kilometer race, and senior Max Baeder set the school record in the men’s 8-kilometer race at the George Oja Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 17. The cross country meet was held at Oak Knoll Golf Course and was hosted by Linfield University in Salem, Oregon.
Carstens took first place in the women’s race with a time of 20 minutes, 38.5 seconds. She led from very early in the race and won by 14.7 seconds.
Also for Evergreen in the women’s race, junior Dani Buttrell registered a time of 22:54.0 to place 87th and moved into third on the Geoducks’ all-time list. Senior Madison Palek was timed at 23:48.2 and placed 127th while advancing into 10th on Evergreen’s all-time list. Junior Soleil Bianchi completed the course in 24:04.1, and sophomore Sylvie Biesack achieved a time of 24:46.2.
In the men’s race, Baeder earned 22nd place out of 401 runners while breaking his own school record by 20 seconds at 24:21.6.
Evergreen senior Josh Beam was 78th in the men’s race with a time of 25:22.6, as he took over third place all-time for the Geoducks. Senior Liam Kaperick earned a time of 26:38.6, sophomore Nathaniel Sanchez finished in 26:43.4, and senior Jackson Rye was timed at 26:51.7.
The Evergreen men’s team set a school record for the fastest combined time by the top five finishers. In the team standings for the men’s race, Evergreen took 20th place out of 33 teams, and the Geoducks were 12th out of 29 teams in the women’s standings.
