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Photos by Devin Courtright/The Advocate
Sophomore Amanda Faggard, one of the Saints top runners for the cross country team, finished fourth on the team during the Mike Hodges Invitational last Friday at Clackamas Community College. She finished with a time of 23:14.58 in the 5K run.
Saints display glimpses of excellence
The Advocate
The MHCC women's and men's cross country teams finished in 8th and 15th place, respectively, at the Mike Hodges Invitational meet Oct.15 at Clackamas Community College.
The women competed in a field of 14 teams and the men in a group of 17.
Besides a slight chill of 54 degrees, conditions were ideal for running, with clear skies and little to no wind in the air. The course further complemented the good weather with its flat and mainly grassy terrain.
"It was a good, flat, fast course," MHCC runner Donnie Coulson said in a phone interview Wednesday.
First to race were the women's teams in the 5K run. Both freshman Gabriela Diaz and sophomore Stacy Bird finished in the top 50 out of 120 competitors.
Although she said she "started off too fast," Diaz placed 22nd (good for 7th place out of community college runners), and clocked a personal record (PR) of 19:23. Diaz was excited about her performance. "I felt like I did really, really well," she said after the race.
Bird set a new PR and placed 33rd (11th for community colleges), with a time of 19:43, followed by Amanda Smith, Jennifer Tina, Amanda Faggard, Holli Davis, Jessica Hunter and Trista Burnham.
But not all was sunshine and rainbows, at least from Head Coach Hart's perspective, who said that their top two women weren't factors, referring to Khalia Tidwell's illness and Amanda Faggard's "off" performance.
Nevertheless, Hart was confident about the future for the women's team. "We'll be doing alright when we're full strength," he said.
The men ran four miles instead of their usual 8K run (five miles). Freshman Troy Prettyman was first to cross the finish line, 81st of the 165 competitors. He was followed by Coulson, Jonathon Butcher, Chris Newell, Markus Stevens, and Jordan Bennett (all freshmen).
"We were all in a pack most of the time because of the short distance," said Coulson. "It felt good to run fast," he added.
This was the first meet of the season Coulson didn't finish first for the men's group.
Hart was particularly pleased with Prettyman's work. He said, "Prettyman had a breakthrough performance."
Clackamas Community College will also host this year's NWAACC Cross Country Championship meet Nov. 13.
Next on the schedule is a trip Saturday to Corvallis, where the women and men will compete in the Beaver Classic at Oregon State University's Avery Park, hosted by the Corvallis Running Project.
The women's 6K race starts at 9:45 a.m. and the men's 8K race begins at 10:45 a.m.
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