CHENEY, WA – No. 15 LC State Men’s Cross Country saw a variety of experience on the course on Friday at the Clash of the Inland Northwest. Kobe Wessels led the Warriors to a sixth-place finish to start the season.
The Warriors earned 144 points to finish sixth, just four points behind NCAA Division III Whitman in the season opener.
“We definitely have some work to do after we faded in the last 2000m,” coach Mike Collins said. “I did see a couple of guys really move forward which is encouraging, but we just need to get all of us to move forward. Kobe raced well and our gaps from our first to our fifth runner, and our first to our seventh runner were good so that’s encouraging. Today’s results might provide some good incentive to buckle down, but we’re really trying to look at the big picture and today is just a few pixels in that picture.”
The Warriors were senior led with Wessels as the top LC State finisher in 33rd place (19:38.4). Alexander Fry was the second Warrior to cross the line (20:04.0), Tristin O’Brien was 51st (20:27.5) and Ben Vernon placed 55th (20:37.9).
Freshman Malachi Walsh rounded out the top five for LC State in 56th place (20:41.6) and senior Connor Alexander was 64th (20:50.7). Sven Druijff crossed the line in 67th in his collegiate debut (20:51.9).
Clay Shumaker raced his way to a 77th-place finish (21:13.7), Dawson Welliver was 92nd (21:59.4) and Jace Joslyn was 99th (23:27.5).
