WOMEN'S RESULTS      MEN'S RESULTS

SALEM, Ore. – The Eastern Oregon University women's and men's cross country teams had much improved races at the Charles Bowles Invitational Saturday.

Karlee Coffey finished fifth overall in the women's race, as the EOU women came in 11th out of 20 teams. The Eastern men were sixth out of 22 teams.

The 37th annual Charles Bowles Invite, hosted by Willamette University, has built a tradition of being one of the most prestigious cross country meets on the west coast.

The women's race was a loaded field, as there were six top-20 ranked NAIA teams and two others that were receiving votes in the poll. Biola (Calif.) was the top ranked team at No. 3, but fourth-ranked University of British Columbia and fifth-ranked Northwest Christian, finished ahead of Biola.

The Eastern women were led by Coffey. Running conservatively as part of recovery from a recent hip injury, Coffey covered the fast 5,000-meter loop in 17:44 to finish fifth out of 223 competitors. Her time is just off her school record of 17:36 she set at the same meet last year.

A trio of Mountaineers came across the line closely grouped together. Cristal Delgado came in 68th with a time of 19:27 to lead Laura Hanson (71st in 19:29) and Kimmy Moore (81st in 19:37) across the line.

Running fifth for EOU Christy Roe. crossing the line in 130th with a time of 20:22. Last year Roe covered this same course in 21:09. Rounding out Eastern's finishers were Jacky Sheoships (130th in 20:31), Talissa Baldovino (145th in 20:34), Kayla Christensen (151st in 21:45) and Monique McKenzie (206th in 23:33).

On the men's side, six men's team brought national rankings into the meet. The No. 23 Mountaineer men were led by Brian Bragg, who ran a full minute faster than he did at the meet last year to finish 25th out of 260 competitors. Bragg's time of 25:14 also ranks him 23rd on the EOU all time list for 8,000 meters.

Closely following Bragg across the line in 36th place, was Isaac Updike, with a new life time best of 25:20. Ryan Booth ran just off his personal record to finish 45th in 25:34 and finish as the Mountaineers third man today.

As a team, Eastern Oregon ran much stronger and beat 17th ranked Biola and fourth-ranked University of British Columbia to finish sixth.

The Mountaineers are idle next weekend and return Oct. 15 when they host the lone home meet of the season, the EOU Open. The races are 3,000 meters for the women and 5,000 meters for the men, against NCAA Div. 2 opponent, Northwest Nazarene.