SPRINGFIELD, Ore.—Facing some of the best collegiate competition in the country, sophomores Riley Buese and Erik Maack were Lewis & Clark College cross country's top finishers on Friday morning at the Dellinger Invite. 
 
THE BASICS
No Team Scores
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Facing a field of all Division I schools and one community college, Lewis & Clark's top four men's runners and Buese put together strong performances. 
 
Buese ran the 10^th-fastest time in program history as she finished the 6K course in 22:04.4. The sophomore finished in 58^th place out of 74 runners and consistently improved her place at every split. Through the first split, she was sitting in 70^th place and moved up five spots at each of the next two splits and three at the second-to-last split. 
 
Maack posted the top time on the men's team for the third race in a row. The sophomore transfer just barely edged out sophomore teammate Max Aldrich as the pair finished in 72^nd and 73^rd place. The sophomore duo ran stride-for-stride for the entire meet with Maack leading at four of the seven splits, Aldrich leading twice and a tie on the other. Maack crossed the line in 25:53.1 and Aldrich was just behind him in 25:53.5. 
 
Sophomore Frankie Reid finished third on the men's team with his time of 26:25.6. Reid placed 82^nd overall. 
 
Junior Liam Rickey was the final finisher for L&C. He ended the race in 84^th place with a time of 26:53.6. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Riley's time of 22:04.4 shaved off nearly 18 seconds off her previous career-best time for a 6K race. As a freshman, she posted the 12^th-fastest time in program history at the L&C Invite with at time of 22:22.2. 
• Maack and Aldrich just missed out on cracking the top-50 in program history. Tyler Sugai sits 50^th all-time with a time of 25:53.0, just .1 faster than Maack's time and .5 seconds faster than Aldrich.
• Aldrich's time was almost 40-seconds faster than his previous career-best 8K time. As a freshman, he ran 26:31.4 at the NCAA Division III West Regional Cross Country Championship.
• The Pioneers were the lone Division III team at the Dellinger Invite (hosted by the University of Oregon). Last year, the Pioneers only sent one runner (Reid).  

WHAT'S NEXT 
The Pioneers will return to Western Oregon University next Friday, when they compete in the Mike Johnson Classic at 11:45 a.m.