CLAREMONT, Calif.—Lewis & Clark College men's and women's cross country will compete in the 2025 NCAA DIII West Regional Championship Meet on Saturday morning. This year's Regional is being hosted by Pomona-Pitzer and will be run across their campus.
 
THE BASICS
 
Men's Race (8K) –  9am
Women's Race (6K) – 10am 
Awards Ceremony – 11am
Live results available here: https://finishedresults.trackscoreboard.com/meets/13427/events
Parking and Admission is Free 
 
RECAPPING THE NWC CHAMPIONSHIP MEET
 
Men's cross country finished fourth overall and the women's team placed seventh at the 2025 NWC Championship Meet. This year's meet was hosted in the midst of a downpour on Pacific Lutheran University's campus. 
 
Juniors Quinn Higgins and Sam Garcia led the men's team. The duo each earned their first collegiate All-Conference honors after finishing in eighth and ninth place overall. Juniors Emil Miller (25^th place) and Evan Markelz (27^th place) placed third and fourth on the team. Senior Theron Plumb claimed the fifth scoring spot on the team with a time of 27:36.66. He finished 39^th overall. Junior Colin Shimabukuro (41^st) and first year Knox Orchard (54^th) placed sixth and seventh on the squad. 
 
Senior Malia Heien led the women's team and earned her fourth-career, cross country All-Conference award. Heien placed 10^th overall despite dealing with an injury. Junior Skylar Willow was the second Pioneer to cross the finish line as she finished 34^th overall. Senior Miriam Reside, who was battling an illness, took 41^st place. Junior Nadia Cota (45^th) and sophomore Talia Tomhave (46^th) placed fourth and fifth on the team. Junior Maeva Conroy (57^th) and senior Emogene Lutz (59^th) placed sixth and seventh for the Pioneers.   
 
RECAPPING LAST YEAR'S REGIONALS 
 
Lewis & Clark enjoyed strong results on both sides last year as they took advantage of racing on their home course – Milo McIver. Both teams finished in the top-10 of the region for the third time in four years. The Pioneers had three runners punch their tickets to Nationals based off their finish at Regionals. 
 
Women's cross country place seventh overall to earn their highest finish at Regionals since the 2013 season. They ended the meet with 218 points to place second among Northwest Conference teams. Assistant coach Riley Buese broke her own program record by posting a time of 21:00.6 to finish second overall. She is one of three Lewis & Clark runners in program history to finish second at a Regional Championship. Heien joined Buese on the All-Region Team by finishing 17^th overall and running the seventh-fastest time in program history. Graduate Madeleine Boyle (40^th place) and Willow (65^th) ran the 16^th-fastest and 28^th-fastest times in program history. Tomhave placed fifth on the team and 96^th overall. Reside (146^th) and Lutz (147^th) were the sixth and seventh-place finishers on the team. 
 
Men's cross country finished ninth in the region and third among NWC teams with 251 points. Markelz earned a trip to Nationals for the first time in his career by placing 10^th overall. Higgins ran a PR time to finish 36^thoverall – one spot off the All-Region Team. Assistant coach Peter Ford took third on the team and 52^nd overall. Garcia (77^th) and Miller (81^st) placed fourth and fifth on the team. Sophomore AJ Gibbs (111^th) and Plumb (128^th) each made their collegiate Regional debuts. 
 
RECENT REGIONAL RESULTS 
 
Lewis & Clark cross country has had at least one team finish in the top-10 of the regional meet in 13 of the past 15 years and both teams seven times. 
 
The women's team finished second overall in 2012-the last time the Pioneers won the NWC Championship Meet. The second-place finish was good enough to qualify the entire team for a spot at the National Championship Meet-a first in program history. The 2012 women's cross country team was inducted into the L&C Hall of Fame in 2024. Lewis & Clark's seventh-place showing last season was their best since 2013.  
 
The men's team's fifth-place finish in 2021 was their best since 2000 (fourth overall). The program finished sixth overall in 2008-2010 and 2012 and placed seventh overall in 2017.
  
SENDING RUNNERS TO NATIONALS 
 
Lewis & Clark has sent at least one runner to the National Championship Meet in five-straight seasons. 
 
In 2019, senior Sean Richardson qualified after finishing ninth in the men's race. Frankie Reid matched Richardson with a ninth-place showing of his own in 2021 to earn a trip to Louisville, Kentucky. Max Aldrich (12th) and Buese (14th) each earned a trip to Lansing, Michigan in 2022. In 2023, Buese (sixth) and Heien (eighth) became the first pair of teammates to travel to Nationals since 2012 when they competed in Dickinson, Pennsylvania. 
 
Last season, Buese, Heien and Markelz all earned a trip to Nationals. The trio traveled to Terra Haute, Indiana with Buese earning All-American honors with a 17t-place finish. It marked the third time in program history that runners from both programs competed at Nationals in the same season (2009 and 2022). Lewis & Clark has sent multiple runners to Nationals 14 times in their program history. 
 
THREE THINGS TO KNOW

1. Heien is aiming to become the fifth student-athlete in school history to qualify for three Cross Country National Championship Meets. Heien would join L&C Hall of Famers Chris Miller (1962-64), Becca Carleton (05-07), Emily Thomas (2010-12) and Buese (2022-24) in achieving that goal. Heien has placed 125^th (2023) and 135^th (2024) in her two trips to Nationals. 
2. Higgins is aiming to become the fifth different L&C men's runner to earn a trip to Nationals in the past six years. He has been one of the top runners in the NWC all season and will be looking for a bounce-back performance on Saturday. 
3. Lewis & Clark is expected to have five runners from both teams compete at Regionals for a second-straight season. Higgins, Garcia, Miller, Gibbs and Plumb all represented Lewis & Clark last season. Heien, Willow, Tomhave, Reside and Lutz competed last season for the women's team.