HILLSBORO, Ore.—Nine Lewis & Clark cross country men's runners posted PRs to help the Pioneers finish in third place at the 2022 Northwest Conference Cross Country Championship Meet at Killarney West Golf Course on Saturday morning. 
 
THE BASICS
 
3^rd out of 9 Teams – 79 Points 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Sophomores Max Aldrich and Erik Maack each finished in the top-eight to lead the Pioneers to their third-straight, top-three finish at the NWC Championship Meet. 

"The goals and expectations for the group have been very high all year," head coach Matthew Barreau said. "Our workouts and runs have gone great but our racing hasn't come close all year to our expectations. It's been challenging keeping their belief in their high goals when their performances weren't lining up. We expected to be third today, but our goals all year haven't been about being third. So we talked about using this race for more than just this year, and to use it as a measuring stick against what we want for ourselves ultimately. That meant we were just going to swing for the fence. It definitely got us out of our comfort zone, so there were some things that still didn't go as smooth as we wanted with working together. But we ran much closer to our capabilities today and we're very proud of the effort. For Max to break the school record, Erik to be number three all-time, and for our Top 5/7 team averages to be school records is a great indication that we're heading in the direction we want." 
 
Aldrich put together the best performance in program history. The sophomore beat his personal record time by over 90 seconds to run the fastest time in program history (24:16.2). He finished the race fifth overall to earn NWC First Team All-Conference honors. 

"I'm pretty happy with the results of today," Aldrich said. "I felt a little out of place when I was in second briefly given that I hadn't had a lot of experience in the front of this level of meet. But I refocused because I know I've been putting in the work and I expected to be with the top pack. It's also where I knew the team needed me. I wasn't expecting the time that came, but I raced where I knew I should be and the result happened."

I'm super proud of all the boys.  Big PR's and season bests by everybody today. It was a step in the direction we want to be in. Hopefully this gets us back to where we were last year with our fifth place regional showing, or close to it. Individually I think this puts me and Erik in a good position for the individual qualifier spots coming out of a strong region right now."

Maack was just behind his teammate. The sophomore transfer posted the third fastest-time in program history and beat his previous PR by 45 seconds to finish eight overall (24:34.3). Maack's eight-place finish was good enough to earn NWC Second Team All-Conference accolades. 
 
Sophomore Frankie Reid finished third on the team and just missed out on an All-Conference spot. He beat his season best team by nearly 70 seconds to finish 16^th overall (25:17.3). 
 
Junior Liam Rickey was the fourth Pioneer to cross the line. He broke his PR time by nearly a minute and posted the 40^th-fastest time in program history to finish in 22^nd place (25:37.7). 
 
Junior Miles Voenell claimed the fifth and final scoring spot. He shattered his PR time by over a minute to finish 32^nd in 25:51.0. 
 
Sophomore Peter Ford was the next Pioneer to finish. He placed 40^th overall with a PR time of 26:16.5 (nearly 50 seconds faster this previous PR). 
 
Junior Caleb Silverman and freshman Noah Nelson back to-back to place 43^rd and 44^th. Silverman's time (26:20.9) was nearly 40 seconds better than his previous PR, while Nelson (26:29.0) beat his previous PR time by over 90 seconds. 
 
Freshman Theron Plumb came across the line in 26:32.4 (48^th place) to break his PR time by 24 seconds. 
 
Sophomore Will Dennis was the ninth and final Pioneer to post a PR. He finished in 52^nd place with a time of 26:49.7 (three seconds faster than his previous-best time). 

"It's been great establishing a new normal of both programs being Top 3 in the Conference now for three straight years," Barreau said. "We've set our expectation to be there, which makes it easier to see the bigger goals ahead. George Fox, notably, has risen their level in the past couple years with Coach Wilson, which is exciting to see. It makes our challenge of winning conference that much harder, but is helping raise our level along the way."
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• The Pioneers top five of Aldrich, Maack, Reid, Rickey and Voenell set a program-record time for the best team average by a group of five runners at a meet and championship meet. The five runners averaged (25:08), shattering the previous championship mark by the 2012 team (25:56.1). 
• Aldrich's time of 24:16.2 broke 2004 Olympian Neil Weare's (24:30.2) program record time that had stood since 2001. 
• The Pioneers now have three current runners in the top nine in program history. Aldrich (1^st), Maack (3^rd) and Reid (ninth). 
• Maack improved his best career finish at the NWC Championship Meet. Last season, he finished in 10^th place while running at Pacific University. 
• Nelson (35th) and Plumb (38th) each carved out spots on the Top-50 Men's Freshman All-Time List. 
• Nelson and Aldrich each beat their previous career-best time by over one minute and 37 seconds. Nelson's time was 1:37.8 seconds faster and Aldrich beat his time by 1:37.3. 
• Lewis & Clark finished behind only 18^th-ranked George Fox University (38 points) and regionally-ranked Pacific Lutheran University (45 points). 
• The Pioneers have now finished in the top-three at the NWC Championship Meet for three years in a row. It's the first time since Lewis & Clark posted four-straight top-three finishes from 1977-80. 
• Lewis & Clark also posted the top average time for a collection of seven runner at a meet and championship event. The Pioneers top five runners plus Ford and Silverman/Nelson averaged 25:27, which was 45 seconds faster than the previous championship record time set by the 2008 team. 

WHAT'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark will host the 2M/1M Time Trials at Eldon Fix Track on Friday night at 6:30 p.m.