SPOKANE, Wash.—Sophomore Riley Buese and freshman Malia Heien led Lewis & Clark College women's cross country to an eight-place finish at the NCAA Division III Regional Cross Country Championship.  
 
THE BASICS 
 
11^th Place out of 22 Teams – 311 Points 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Buese and Heien each earned All-Region honors and all five of the Pioneers scorers finished in the top-80 on a frigid day at Plantes Ferry Sports Complex. 
 
Buese placed 14^th overall with a time of 22:19.40. The Pioneers sophomore bounced between spots 12^th and 15^th across the 6K course, before finishing in 14^th overall-an improvement of six spots from her freshman campaign. 
 
With her 14th place finish, Buese is right on the line of earning a spot in next week's National Championship Meet. The top seven runners in the region from teams that don't qualify as a team for Nationals, automatically earn a spot at Nationals. The NCAA will release the field on Sunday afternoon at Noon Pacific, including which teams earn spots and which individual runners will earn a spot at the National Championship Meet.
 
Heien earned her first career All-Region honors after crossing the line in 28^th place. The Pioneers freshman made some huge moves throughout the race. She was sitting in 46^th after the opening 1K, 45^th after 2K, she moved up to 36^th at the halfway point of the 6K race and then made smaller jumps at each of the final three checkpoints to place 28^th with a time of 22:50.2.
 
Junior Katya Schwieterman was the next Pioneer to cross the line. She made significant moves throughout the race as well, moving from 85^th all the way up to 64^th with a time of 23:56.1. 
 
Freshman Madeleine Boyle was just behind Schwieterman. The freshman moved up nearly 30 spots throughout the race (95^th to 68^th) and crossed the line in 24:04.8. 
 
Fellow freshman Emogene Lutz ended the race in 80^th place with a time of 24:20.7. 
 
Sophomore Ishani Hansji placed 118^th and posted a time of 25:31.6. 
 
Freshman Clare Lucey was the final Pioneer to finish. She ran the course is 26:09.5 to finish 134^th. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• As a team, the Pioneers finished in eighth place with 240 points. The eighth-place finish in their best result at Regionals since 2018 when they placed seventh. Lewis & Clark women's cross country finished in ninth at the 2019 and 2021 Regional Championship Meet. 
• Buese improved her place and time this season. She moved up six spots (20^th to 14^th) and improved her time by nearly 45 seconds.
• Heien, Boyle, Lutz and Lucey all made their Regional Championship debuts. 
• Lutz finished in the top-five on the team for the third time this season and for the first time in a postseason meet.  

WHAT'S NEXT 
 
The NCAA Division III Cross Country Championship Meet will take place next Saturday at Forest Akers in Lansing, Michigan. The women's race will take place at 11 a.m. Eastern and will be streamed live on NCAA.com. The field will be released on Sunday at Noon (Pacific) on NCAA.com