PORTLAND, Ore. – Getting a preview of the course for the 2012 Cascade Conference Championships, the Evergreen Geoducks took part in the CCC Preview Meet as part of the Warner Pacific College Open on Saturday at Lents Park in Portland, Ore.
On the men’s side, the Geoducks took 11th as a team. Evergreen was led for a fourth straight meet by sophomore Aaron Jones (San Bruno, Calif./Capuchino HS), who took 77th with a time of 27:46.58. Alec Messman (Lacey, Wash./River Ridge HS) was the next Geoduck across the line, taking 90th overall with a time of 28:43.55. Les Jones (Tacoma, Wash./Mt. Tahoma HS) took 93rd, finishing the course in 28:52.12 and twin broth Wes Jones (Tacoma, Wash./Mt. Tahoma HS) took 103rd with a time of 29:38.93. Drew Hawley (SeaTac, Wash./Mt. Rainier HS) rounded out the Evergreen effort, taking 113th with a time of 32:54.18.
The men’s race was won by Eric Avila of Southern Oregon, finishing the eight kilometer course in 24:32.51 to win by nearly five seconds. Southern Oregon also won the team title with a score of 34 points, beating NCAA Division I University of Portland by 38 points.
On the women’s side, Evergreen was led by senior Ashley DiCristina (Prescott, Ariz./Brandshaw Mountain HS), who took 84th with a time of 23:51.11. Allison Zoe Schneider (Longview, Wash./R.A. Long HS) finished 90th with a time of 29:05.51 as just two Geoduck females raced on Saturday. The women’s 5k was won by Merel van Steenbergen of University of Portland. The Pilots also won the team title with 56 points, just seven points ahead of second-place Northwest Christian.
The Geoducks return to Oregon on Friday to take part in a rare afternoon race as they compete in the Beaver Classic in Corvallis, Ore., hosted by Oregon State University.