TACOMA, Wash.—Juniors Quinn Higgins and Sam Garcia both finished in the top-10, to lead Lewis & Clark College men's cross country to a fourth-place finish at the 2025 Northwest Conference Cross Country Championship Meet. 
 
THE BASICS 
 
Men's Cross Country – 4^th out 9 Teams – 102 Points 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED 
 
Higgins and Garcia each secured their first career All-Conference honors to help men's cross country finish in the top-four in the conference for a sixth-straight season. 
 
The junior duo finished back-to-back in eighth and ninth place. Higgins crossed the finish line in 26:03.03 and Garcia was just behind him in 26:06.96. 
 
Juniors Emil Miller and Evan Markelz were the next Pioneers to finish. Miller posted a time of 26:48.57 to finish 25^th overall. Markelz crossed the finish line in 26:56.71 to place 27^th overall. 
 
Senior Theron Plumb finished as the team's fifth and final scorer. Plumb came across in 27:36.66 to finish in 39^th place. 
 
Junior Colin Shimabukuro took 41^st overall. He registered a time of 27:39.32. 
 
Sophomore AJ Gibbs placed seventh on the Pioneers. Gibbs recorded a time of 27:55.86 to place 48^th. 
 
First year Knox Orchard was the next Lewis & Clark runner to cross the finish line. Orchard posted a time of 28:29.98 to finish in 54th place. 
 
Junior Gavin Sellers and senior Joseph Naylor finished with nearly identical times. Sellers (29:29.31) and Naylor (29:29.33) finished in 67^th and 68^th place. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS 

• Higgins and Garcia were each named to the Northwest Conference All-Conference Second Team. The NWC changed the All-Conference model this season and the runners who finished 6-10^th all earned spots on the NWC Second Team. 
• Higgins, Garcia, Miller, Plumb, Shimabukuro, Orchard, Sellers and Naylor all posted their best career finishes at the NWC Championship Meet. 
• Men's cross country's streak of six-straight, top-four finishes in the NWC Championship Meet is their second-longest in program history. The program posted a streak of 12-straight years in the top-four from 1963-74.
• George Fox won their seventh-straight men's team title with 37 total points. University of Puget Sound senior Cian Monagahan won the team title with a time of 25:16.16. 
• Lewis & Clark finished 25 points behind second-place Whitworth University (77) and 10 points behind third-place Willamette University (92). They edged fifth-place Whitman College (120) by 18 points. 

WHAT'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark will travel to California for the NCAA DIII West Regional Championship Meet on Saturday, November 15.