Willamette to Host Oak Knoll Loop Run in Cross Country

By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

SALEM, ORE. -- Willamette University will be hosting the Oak Knoll Loop Run in cross country on Saturday, Sept. 20. Acton will get underway at the Oak Knoll Golf Course at 10:30 a.m. (PDT) with the women's 5-kilometer race, followed by the men's 8-kilometer race at 11 a.m.

The Bearcat women's team enters the meet ranked #11 in this week's NCAA Division III Poll and is ranked #1 in the West Region. The Willamette men's team is ranked #4 in the West Region.

Competing in the women's Loop Run will be Willamette and Mount Hood Community College. The men's race will include the Bearcats, the University of Portland and Mount Hood CC.

Top runners for the WU women's squad are Michaela Freeby (Sr., Milwaukie, OR/Rex Putnam HS), Taylor Ostrander (Jr., Kenai, AK/Kenai Central HS), Olivia Mancl (So., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS), Hannah Bressler (Jr., Oak Harbor, WA/Oak Harbor HS) and Juliet Farnan (Jr., Lafayette, CA/Campolindo HS).

Ostrander took first place in the Bearcats' season-opening dual meet against the University of Alaska-Anchorage. Mancl was second and Freeby was fifth. The Bearcats won the women's race with a score of 25, while Alaska-Anchorage earned a score of 31.

Key runners for Willamette on the men's team include Jacob Shafi (Jr., Pleasanton, CA/Amador Valley HS), Daniel Swanson (Sr., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS), Yonny Castillo (Jr., Parkdale, OR/Hood River Valley HS) and Patrick Loftus (Fr., Healdsburg, CA/Sonoma Academy). Shafi was the top finisher for WU against Alaska-Anchorage. UAA won the men's race.