MONMOUTH, Ore.—Seniors Quinn Higgins and Emil Miller each finished in the top-10 for a second-straight race, to lead Lewis & Clark College men's cross country on Friday afternoon at the Ash Creek Collegiate Invitational. 
 
THE BASICS 
 
Men's Cross Country – 5^th out of 10 Teams – 103 Points
 
HOW IT HAPPENED 
 
Men's cross country easily outpaced fellow Northwest Conference squads Linfield University (188) and Pacific University (233 points) to place fifth in the field. The River Otters finished behind only NCAA DII Western Oregon University (host), NCAA DI Portland State University, NCAA DII Simon Fraser University and NCAA DI Seattle University. 
 
Higgins notched his second-straight top-five finish to start the season. The senior posted a PR 6K time when he crossed the line in 18:04.2 to place fifth overall. 
 
Miller added a PR 6K of his own to finish in 10^th place. The senior came across in 18:31.6 to edge the 11^th-place runner by 0.1 seconds. 
 
Senior Sam Garcia was the third Lewis & Clark runner to cross the line. Garcia posted a time of 19:22.2 to finish in 28^th place.
 
Sophomore Knox Orchard finished fourth on the team in his season debut. The sophomore recorded a PR time of 19:39.4 to place 38^th overall. 
 
First year Tait Ostrom earned the fifth and final spot in the Lewis & Clark scoring lineup. The first year posted a time of 19:48.2 in his first collegiate 6K. Ostrom finished 41^st overall. 
 
Senior John Blockhus came across sixth on the team. Blockhus registered a PR time of 20:08.2 to place 48^thoverall. 
 
Senior Jordan Wu added a PR time of his own. Wu crossed the line in 20:27.0 to place 54^th. 
 
First year Ukiah Moon Steury was the next Lewis & Clark runner to finish. The first year posted a time of 20:44.8 to finish in 62^nd place. 

BY THE NUMBERS 

• Higgins and Miller both finished ahead of the top runners from Linfield and Pacific. 
• Orchard earned a spot in the the scoring lineup for the second time in his career. As a first year, he placed fifth on the team at the George Oja Linfield Invitational. 
• Seven of the eight Lewis & Clark men's runners on Friday posted a PR 6K. 
• Lewis & Clark raced without three of their top-six runners from the Lewis & Clark XC Opener. 
• Higgins has finished in the top-10 in six of the nine cross country races he's competed in the past two seasons. 
• Miller notched his second-straight and second career top-10 showing in a cross country meet. 
• Host Western Oregon (17 points) edged NCAA DI Portland State (73), NCAA DII Simon Fraser (93) and NCAA DII Seattle University (97). 

WHAT'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark will travel to Tacoma next Saturday for the Pacific Lutheran University Invitational.