SEATTLE, Wash. -- Doug Blackburn and Kristi Dickey posted top ten finishes to lead the Whitworth College cross country teams at the Sundodger Invitational today, hosted by the University of Washington at Lincoln Park.

In the physically largest meet the teams will participate in this year, Blackburn finished sixth out of 311 runners in the men's competition. He ran the 8 kilometer course in 24:59, only 20 seconds behind Nick Arciniaga who won the race for Team Saucony in 24:39. Jeff Grassley finished in 26:08 to take 54th place. Brooks Cooper was 125th in 27:08. Phil Grahlfs (27:28) and Nick Foster (27:34) rounded out Whitworth's top five in 146th and 153rd places, respectively.

The Pirate men finished 13th as a team with 370 points. Willamette won the meet, leading a total of 29 teams.

Whitworth's women finished 11th out of 23 squads with 271 points. Simon Fraser University won the women's contest.

Dickey ran the 6 kilometer course in 22:19 and was the second finisher from the NWC. Kristen Kolstad of SFU won in 21:43. There were 265 competitors in the race.

Elaine Heinemann (23:10) and Julie Lauterbach (23:17) followed in 33rd and 40th places, respectively. Shannon Newth was 104th in 24:32, while Andrea Carnahan took 114th place in 24:40, to round out the Whitworth scoring.

Whitworth will return to action next weekend when the Pirates compete at the Central Washington University Invitational. The meet will occur at the Naches Heights course in Yakima. The women's race starts at 11:45 am, while the men are scheduled to run at 12:30 pm.