SALEM, Ore. -- Whitworth University posted its best showing ever at the Charles Bowles Willamette Invitational on Saturday, as the Pirate men ran to 7th place out of 30 teams and the women finished in sixth place out of 28 schools at Bush's Pasture Park. Whitworth is not scheduled to compete in a larger (in terms of participants) meet this season.

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Nick Gallagher was 14th of 301 men's runners

Nick Gallagher (So., Bedford, Iowa) led the Whitworth men with a 14th place finish, running the eight kilometer course in 25:22.28. Dusty Caseria (Jr., Bellingham, Wash.) was 42nd in 26:02.74 and Aaron Jenkins (Fr., Pocatello, Idaho) took 49th in 26:06.13. Emmanual Bofa (Jr., Puyallup, Wash.) and Tyler Dudley (Fr., Salem, Ore.) rounded out the Pirates' top five in 70th (26:27.15) and 78th (26:32.78) places, respectively. There were 301 finishers in the men's race.

Scott Bauhs of Chico State won the race in 24:06.32. Chico won the team competition with 33 points. Willamette was the top NWC and Division III school with 214 points for sixth place. The Pirates were right behind in seventh with 222. There were 30 teams, including all nine schools from the NWC.

Maddie Coffman of Willamette won the women's race with a time of 17:37.53 over five kilometers. Chico State also won the women's team title with 50 points. Whitman tied with DIII Claremont-Mudd-Scripps for third with 215, the host Bearcats were fifth with 223 and Whitworth was sixth with 225. The Pirates were able to compete well without top runner Tonya Turner (Fr., Spokane, Wash.), who was unable to attend.

Dana Misterek (Fr., Gig Harbor, Wash.) led the Whitworth women with a 20th place finish, running the course in 18:40.84. Jo E. Mayer (Jr., Spokane, Wash.) was next for the Bucs in 30th place with a time of 18:49.27. Jenna Cunningham (Sr., Central Point, Ore.) followed in 45th place (19:05.54), while Kaitlin Hildebrand (Jr., Gig Harbor, Wash.) was 55th in 19:22.14. Emily Morehouse (Jr., Grants Pass, Ore.) finished 86th (19:43.28) to round out the Whitworth scoring. There were 288 finishers in the women's competition.

Whitworth will hit the road again next weekend to compete at the PLU Invitational in Tacoma. The meet will begin at 10:00 a.m. and will take place at the PLU golf course on campus.