ESTACADA, Ore.—Three Lewis & Clark College men's cross country runners finished in the top-20, as part of a strong showing in Friday morning's Lewis & Clark Opener at Milo McIver State Park. 
 
THE BASICS 
 
5^th out of 11 Teams – 128 Points 
 
How it Happened 
 
Juniors Quinn Higgins, Sam Garcia and Emil Miller all finished in the top-four among NCAA DIII runners to lead Lewis & Clark in their season opener. As a team, Lewis & Clark placed second out of five NCAA DIII/Northwest Conference schools and finished just 19 points behind NWC Preseason Favorite George Fox University (109 points). 
 
In a race that included three NCAA DI schools (Boise State University, Portland State University and the University of Portland) and a nationally-ranked NAIA squad (Corban University), Higgins proved he belonged with the top runners from the start. The junior led the 135-man field at the first checkpoint (1K) and sat second overall after 2K. He finished the race seventh overall – behind five runners from Boise State and one from the University of Portland. Higgins crossed the line in 15:31.06. 
 
Garcia and Miller ran with the second pack for the majority of the race. Garcia sat in 17^th after the 2K mark but steadily moved up and finished second among NCAA DIII runners and 13^th overall. He finished the race in 15:47.9. Miller cracked the top-10 early in the race and settled in to place 19^th and was the fourth NWC runner to cross the line (15:56.6). 
 
Senior Theron Plumb placed 54^th and fourth overall. He scored points for the full varsity team for the first time in his career. Plumb sat 36^th through the first 2K and ultimately placed 54^th with a mark of 16:43.62. 
 
Sophomore AJ Gibbs crossed the line in 17:01.53 to finish as the team's fifth and final scorer. Gibbs moved up to 32^nd midway through the race and crossed the line 71^st overall. 
 
Senior Joseph Naylor came across in 17:05.95 to place sixth on the team. He ranked as high as 59^th and placed 75^th overall. 
 
Junior Jordan Wu was just behind Naylor. He notched a time of 17:08.75 to finish in 78^th place. 
 
Junior Colin Shimabukuro placed eighth on the team. He registered a time of 17:13.55 to finish 82^nd overall. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS 
 

• First years Seth Austin and Dustin Widrig each made their collegiate debuts on Friday morning. Austin (17:25.89) finished 92^nd overall and Widrid (111^th) crossed the line in 18:25.82. 
• Friday's race marked the men's team's first 5K race since at least 2009. 
• Senior Rigo Castellanos notched a time of 18:16.61 to finish 109^th overall. Junior Teagon Aasen placed 129^th with a mark of 19:42.51. 
• Higgins finished 24.05 seconds ahead of George Fox's number one runner on Friday. Going back to last season, Higgins has now finished in the top-20 racers in six out of his last eight cross country races. 
• Men's cross country (128 points) finished 55 points ahead of Willamette University and 74 points ahead of Pacific University. Linfield University, the fifth NWC team to compete on Friday, did not register a team score. The Wildcats only raced four runners on Friday. 
• Junior Gavin Sellers competed in his first cross country race since October 14, 2023. Sellers did not complete the race, but entered the season healthy after missing all of last season due to an injury.  

WHAT'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark will be off next weekend, before traveling to Western Oregon University for the Ash Creek Collegiate Meet on Friday, September 12.