PORTLAND, Ore.—Lewis & Clark College men's and women's cross country are aiming to put together their best team performances of the season on Saturday at the 2026 Northwest Conference Cross Country Championship Meet. 
 
This year's meet will be hosted by George Fox University at the Oak Knoll Golf Course in Salem. The women's 6K race will commence at 10 a.m. and the men's 8k race will start at 11 a.m. Following the two races, the NWC Championship Ceremony will take place at Noon. There will be live results available for the meet. Fifteen of Lewis & Clark's 17 runners competed on the Championship Course during the George Ojai Invitational on October 17. 
 
2025 NWC CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS 
 
Men's cross country finished in the top-four of the NWC Standings for a sixth-straight season. The River Otters placed fourth overall with 102 points and finished just 10 points behind third-place Willamette University. Juniors Quinn Higgins (eighth place) and Sam Garcia (ninth) led men's cross country to earn their first career NWC All-Conference honors. Juniors Emil Miller (25^th) and Evan Markelz (27^th) finished third and fourth on the team and senior Theron Plumb placed fifth on the team and 39^th overall. 
 
Women's cross country came in sixth in the NWC Standings with 150 points. They finished 49 points ahead of seventh-place Pacific Lutheran University (199) and 17 points back of fifth-place Whitman College (133). Senior Malia Heien earned her fourth-straight All-Conference award by placing 10^th overall. Junior Skylar Willow (34^th) and senior Miriam Reside (41^st) placed second and third on the team. Junior Nadia Cota (45^th) and sophomore Talia Tomhave (46^th) rounded out the five-woman scoring lineup for Lewis & Clark. 
 
Men's Preview 
 
Men's cross country is aiming to post their best finish at the NWC Championship Meet since 2023 (second place). The River Otters placed fourth at the conference meet in 2024 (108 points) and 2025 (102). This year's team was predicted to finish fourth in the NWC Preseason Coaches' Poll with 44 points. 
 
Seven-time defending NWC Champions George Fox University are the favorites heading into the weekend. The Bruins are ranked 28^th nationally in the United State Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Poll. George Fox also leads three NWC teams in the West Regional Rankings. The Bruins sit third in the poll, while Whitworth and Lewis & Clark are ranked eighth and 10^thoverall. 
 
This year's team brings their top-four runners back from last year's NWC Championship Meet and seven runners who competed at conference. Graduated seniors Theron Plumb (fifth on the team) and Joseph Naylor (10^th) and Colin Shimabukuro (sixth) are the only runners not back on this year's team. Men's cross country has put together several strong results in 2026. They opened the season with a win at the Lewis & Clark XC Invite to claim the program's first win since September 2017. The River Otters defeated NAIA Lewis-Clark State and NCAA DI Portland State University in their opener. Lewis & Clark finished first among NWC schools at the Frank Knott Classic on October 3 – including beating host Whitworth in Spokane by 21 points (238-259). At the George Ojai Invitational, Whitworth edged Lewis & Clark by 54 points in a field stacked with NCAA DI and DII schools. 
 
Miller and Higgins have been the top two Lewis & Clark runners this season. Miller has come on extremely strong as of late – as he's posted huge PRs and top-10 marks in program history in each of the past two meets to lead the team. He ran the second-fastest time in program history at the George Ojai Invitational (24:15.5) to finish 18^th overall and second among NWC runners. The senior who has never finished better than 25^th in the NWC Conference heads into Saturday amongst the projected favorites. Higgins led the team in the first three meets of the season and placed second to Miller in the past two meets. He ran the sixth-fastest time in program history at the George Ojai Invitational with a mark of 25:17.7. Higgins has improved his finish at the NWC Championship significantly each season as he's jumped from 41^st to 17^th and ninth in 2025. The River Otters senior duo have both finished in the top-eight among conference runners in each of the past three meets where the majority of the conference has run (PLU Invitational, Frank Knott Classic and George Ojai). 
 
Markelz and Garcia have been the team's number three and four runners all season long. The senior duo have placed third and fourth on the team in all three 8K races in 2026. Markelz is aiming to earn his third career All-Conference cross country award. He placed third at conference as a first year and fourth during his sophomore campaign. Garcia garnered his first career All-Conference award last Fall when he placed ninth at the conference championship meet. The senior duo own the number one (24:08.4) and number 11 (24:44.1) times in program history and both ran their PR times on the Oak Knoll Golf Course. 
 
The big question will be who captures the fifth and final scoring spot for Lewis & Clark? Sophomore Knox Orchard and first years Dylan McGuirk and Tait Ostrom are the most likely runners to place fifth on the team on Saturday. Orchard finished eighth on the team and 54^th overall at the NWC Championship Meet last year. After missing some time early in the season, he has come on strong – including placing fifth on the team at the George Ojai Invitational. McGuirk will have a homecoming on Saturday. The Salem native placed fifth on the team at the PLU Invitational and Frank Knott Classic in his first two collegiate 8Ks and finished seventh on the team at the George Oja Invitational. Ostrom has come on strong and finished in the top-seven on the team at the Frank Knott Classic and George Oja Invitational. All three runners posted season-best or PR times in their last time out. 
 
WOMEN'S PREVIEW
 
Women's cross country is aiming to return to the top-four in the NWC Standings for the sixth time in seven years. This year's new-look team was picked to finish seventh in the NWC Preseason Coaches' Poll with 25 points. The River Otters finished just behind Whitman College (33 points) and Willamette (31) and ahead of Pacific Lutheran University (18) and Linfield University (12 points). 
 
George Fox is also the favorite heading into the women's race. The Bruins have won five-consecutive NWC Titles and have scored 41 points or fewer at all four meets. George Fox ranks 21^st in the USTFCCCA National Poll and placed 13^th out of 35 teams in the Women's Navy Championship race at the Pre National Championship Meet in early October. The favorites sit third in the West Regional Rankings. Whitworth (sixth) and the University of Puget Sound (eighth) are the only other teams ranked in the 10-team Regional Ranking Poll. 
 
This year's has had a new-look lineup after the graduation of Heien and Reside. The two graduated seniors finished the majority of races last season placing first and second on the team. Lewis & Clark only returns five student-athletes who competed at last year's NWC Championship Meet and only two of those runners are healthy heading into the postseason This year's squad has welcomed five new runners and they have immediately made an impact. 
 
First year Ava Stewart was named the Northwest Conference Student-Athlete of the Week after her first collegiate race. She has placed first on the team in all five races she's competed in this season. Stewart ran the 28^th-fastest 6K time in program history at the PLU Invitational in September. She will be making her debut on the Oak Knoll Golf Course after missing out on the George Oja Invitational. 
 
Junior Talia Tomhave and sophomore Eva Marley-Jester have consistently been in the top-three on the team all season long. Tomhave is one of the most experienced runners on the team. She competed at the NWC Championship Meet and NCAA DIII West Regional Championship Meet in each of her first two years. Tomhave placed 39^th at conference as a first year and 46^th last Fall. She led the team for the first time in her collegiate career when she placed 164^th at the George Oja Invitational. Marley-Jester has made an instant impact in her first season. She has finished second on the team twice and third on three occasions. Marley-Jester posted a career-best 6K time of 24:11.4 at the PLU Invitational in September. 
 
First year Zoe Benton, sophomore Katherine Scannell and seniors Carolyn Mayberry and Nadia Cota will all be aiming to earn a top-five finish on the team on Saturday. Benton came into the season as one of the top projected runners but missed time due to an injury. She made her collegiate debut at the Pacific Lutheran Invitational and a ran season-best 6K time of 25:21.2. Scannell has made major strides during her sophomore campaign. She placed fifth on the team at the PLU Invitational and came in fourth at the George Invitational. Scannell ran a career-best time of 26:10.6 in her most recent race. Mayberry and Cota have been key leaders on this year's squad and have both posted strong results throughout the year. Mayberry has finished in the scoring lineup twice this season including placing fourth on the team at the Ash Creek Invitational. Cota has placed fifth on the team on two occasions – including coming in fifth on the team at the George Ojai Invitational. She is the only River Otter on the team to have raced at the NWC Cross Country Championship Meet three times in her career.