Amanda Phillips earned her third victory of the season in her third race of the season, winning the Wes Cook Bear Fete Invitational at Willamette River Park Saturday afternoon. Tamma Carleton finished second, helping to lead the women's team to a second place finish (results). Freshman Richie LeDonne was the top finisher for the Pioneer men (results).

For the women, Amanda Phillips (senior, Phoenix, Ore.) and Tamma Carleton (junior, Elk, Calif.) got caught in the stampede to the front at the start. Amanda worked her way to the front and then steadily widened her lead for a clear win with a PR 21:46.5 moving her to number three on the L&C all time list. Tamma made a great move just after the first loop to break away form the chasing pack . She made another big  move starting the third loop and pulled away to a solitary second place with her best race of the year in 22:13.9. Kitty Smith (junior, Malibu, Calif.) also finished in the top half, placing 25th with a time of 24:18.80. The women established 13 seasonal bests or PRs  on the day while finishing second behind Whitman. 

The men had eight seasonal bests or personal records.They finished as a tight group with only 42 seconds separating the first finisher from the fifth finisher and 48 seconds from first to seventh. The team finished sixth but ran their best race of the year. Richie LeDonne (freshman, Narbath, Penn.) was the top finisher for the men, placing 24th with a time of 27:06.90.

"It was great day to race on the new GF course," said Head Coach Keith Woodard. "There were lightly- scattered clouds,  temperature in the 50's, and good competition. The course is scenic   starting in a field, then winding through the trees on a running trail and emerging back onto the field for the 200 meter loop. It is a fast course and the spectators can see a lot of the action. The start area is a bit congested but will be fixed for conference."

"The guys have really tightened up the pack while dropping their times significantly," continued Woodard.  "The teams directly in front of us are not that far away, we just need to continue moving our group forward. I like the progress we are making. It was another terrific race for Amanda and Tamma, it is great to see them out front taking charge of the race.  It was also exciting to see  the team step it up to get past four conference teams. It is fun to  watch this group compete."

The Pioneers head to Salem next weekend, racing Saturday morning, Sept 29 at the Willamette Invitational. It is their first meeting of the year against any of the Bearcat runners. 

Click on the photo below to see a complete web photo gallery of the event.