For the second year in a row, the cross-country men’s team beat out University of Washington for the team win at Sundodger Invitational.

It was a tight race Saturday morning that could have swung in either direction: the Huskies on the west side of the state or the Cougars on the east. The top ten runners were all from UW or Washington State, including a Cougar alumnus.

Leading the Cougar men on the 8km course at Lincoln Park in Seattle was sophomore Michael Williams. He completed the race with a time of 24 minutes and 8.59 seconds right on the heels of Washington senior Izaic Yorks and the winning time of 24:05.39.

Another Husky took the third place position before junior John Whelan came in fourth. Third on the WSU team, freshman Nathan Wadhwani covered the fifth place position. The line of Cougars continued with alumnus Andrew Kimpel filling the sixth place spot. The final scorers rounding out the Washington State Cougars were seventh and eighth place finishers sophomore Sam Lenora and freshman Chandler Teigen.

“The men ran really well as a team: very controlled and relaxed through 6,000 meters and racing only the last part,” WSU Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Wayne Phipps said.

On the women’s team, senior CharLee Linton again led the WSU ladies finishing eighth in just under 21 minutes. Her teammate sophomore Devon Bortfeld completed the 6km in 21:19 to take the 50th place position. Other scorers on the women’s team included junior Morgan Willson and senior Emily Dwyer.

“CharLee and Devon had fantastic races and ran 30 seconds faster than last year with a much more controlled effort,” Phipps said. “I’m excited to see what this (women’s) team can do once we race our full team.”

On Oct. 3, the Cougars will again be in Seattle at the Jefferson Park Golf Course for the Washington Invitational.

Reporting by Casie Moe