| PORTLAND– Newcomers made an immediate impact for LC State Men’s Cross Country on Friday at the season opener in Portland. Led by sophomore Malachi Walsh, the Warriors finished second as a team at the Lewis & Clark XC Opener. Three LC State freshmen placed in the top 15 at the 5k.
“With us being so young and inexperienced, we have to be careful about keeping ourselves healthy as well as our mentality and being progressive in preparing us to get better each and every week, so this meet today was almost perfect for what we were looking for when it came to being competitive,” coach Mike Collins said. “A good environment, an opportunity to work on some things and have something to take out of it to prepare for next time.”
Walsh led the group in fifth place individually with a time of 15:15.8. Freshman Paul Kent was right on his heels in sixth place with a time of 15:16.3 in his collegiate debut.
“Exciting to see Malachi run as well as he did today in a good pack up front,” Collins added. “Also really excited with the fact that I know all of these guys are just going to get better as we go. All were very excited today with the results. Many of these guys have not run a 5k since high school, and just some massive PRs across the board for them so very motivated and looking forward to the next week or so of training before we compete again.”
Transfer Zoran LaFrombois earned a spot in the top 10 with an eighth-place finish (15:27.1), while freshmen Arturo Villar (16:01.2) and Benjamin Farr (16:04.1) placed 13thand 15th, respectively.
Junior Dawson Welliver crossed the line in 18th place (16:12.6), and Cole Wilkerson was just behind in 19th (16:13.4) to round out the top 20. Finnegan O’Donnell was 21st(16:20.4) and Manuel Valdez finished 35th (17:23.0).
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