MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Saints went into the meet at the Ash Creek Preserve looking to shake off rust after a long summer of training without racing. The Lady Saints kicked off the season with a strong performance in the 5k distance, placing 3rd with a score of 70 points, beating #4 ranked team in the GNAC Western Oregon by 12 points. The Saints came 9 points short of Simon Fraser who is ranked #9 Nationally, #1 in the West Region and #1 in the GNAC.
 
COMPLETE RESULTS
 
The women displayed spectacular performances with several individual personal bests and a team average time of 18:45 and total time of 1:33:47 for top 5 performers.
 
Led by Cassidy Walchak-Sloan who broke 18 min for the first time in her career with the time of 17:58 placing fourth overall and lowering her previous best time by 1:28.
 
Coming in a close second for the team is freshman Alauna Carstens from Shelton HS. Carstens crossed the finish line in 18:05 placing 5th overall, lowering her previous time by 27 seconds.
 
Sara Sabra came in third for the team with the time of 18:24 placing 11th overall, a 48 second improvement.
 
Alisha Saucedo came in fourth for the team with the time of 19:13 placing 21st overall, a 1:15 improvement.
 
The men's squad kicked off the season with a strong start in the 6k distance placing 4th as a team scoring 115 points, a team average of 18:48, and total time of 1:34:03. This was proven possible with their share of personal bests to go around, led by Kainalu Pagente running the time of 18:26 placing 14th. His time improved by 37 seconds.
 
Coming in second for the team is Isaac Cortes running the time of 18:39 placing 21st.
 
Michael Harwell came in third for the team with the time of 18:48 placing 23rd, improving his time by 1:15.
 
Lance Slichko came in fourth for the team with the time of 18:56, a 1:07 improvement.
 
Freshman Eli Dale came in fifth for the team with the time of 19:12.
 
The Saints next meet will be the John Payne Curtis Invite on October 1.