Another season is in the books for Multnomah's University's XC program. Through thick and thin this team stuck it out and came away with some great accomplishments. Coach Ben Barber stepped into a new role this season a got a taste at being the head coach of a running program. With some new and familiar faces, MU's cross-country battled hard each week, conquering whatever was before them.
On the men's side the duo of Jacob's brought new faces and fresh legs to Multnomah's men's team. Jacob Dalrymple exceeded all expectations and became a solid second runner for the Lion's and filled a much-needed gap in the top half of the pack. Midway through the season Jacob D. broke 27 minutes and smashed his previous PR with a time of 26:42.7. This puts Jacob as the fifth fastest person to ever dawn a Multnomah jersey, and he continues to plan to climb ladder as the years go on. Jacob D's counterpart, Jacob Miller provided depth to roster starving consistency in the middle of the pack. Jacob Miller gave the team just this as he became by the far the most consistent runner on the team. Between his four 8k's done this season, Jacob only had a 17 second spread between his slowest and fastest race. This consistency early on makes it extremely likely for him to pop a big PR soon enough. His fastest race of the season came in the first 8k of the year as he ran 28:27 flat. That face may have been his best race of paper, but his shining performance came in the conference championship where he was only 5 seconds off his PR in a race where everyone was running dramatically slower than their previous races.
Other important performances this season includes Timothy Kretschmer who consistently battled through injuries throughout the season and was even able finish a few races this season to give the Lion's a chance to get on the scoring sheet as a team. Another returner, Noa Miller, came back this season to compete in three races where he finally broke the 30 minutes barrier in the 8k, giving the Lion's another runner able to compete with the always competitive Cascade Conference.
Last, but definitely not least, on the men's side there was Cade Kooch. Coming into the season Cade had I high hopes for himself. He may not had been able to perform in the way he knows he can on the Conference stage but consistently put down wicked fast times on any course his spikes touched. None of these performances could be matched by what he did on October 15^th down in Estacada, OR where he dropped a 26:05.6 and shattered Multnomah's school record previously held by Daniel Larabee. Cade has marked his name in Multnomah's record books where he plans to stay for a long time!
Not to be overshadowed by their male counterparts the lady Lions of Multnomah XC put on a show each time they toed the line. However, unable to get five runners to line at times, Multnomah's women's team always ran with grit and tenacity, ready to accomplish whatever was before them. A part of this crew was newcomer freshman, Kassidy Chamberlin. Kassidy finished the season with a collegiate PR of 25:23.8 which came in her first collegiate 5k race. Kassidy and her many years of cross-country experience will hopefully continue provide much-needed depth to the women's team. Another key factor in MU's women's cross-country team is returner DeAsia Wosachlo. Even with not being able to match her PR from her amazing performance at last year's NAIA XC Nationals Meet, DeAsia still stayed steady always keeping her time below 23 minutes. In cross-country what is almost as important as one's PR is how consistent one can be as you battle different conditions, weather, and course throughout the season. This is something DeAsia has proven to do well and brings hope to future success as a collegiate cross-country runner. The Lady Lion's consistent number two, Makenna Stock, saved her best race last. In a race where most ran poorly, Makenna put up her best race of the year. This year's season best came in that race where she ran 21:15.1, which was 50 seconds faster than her previous races this season. After going through an intense injury, Makenna proved it's possible to come back from injury and have success.
There are few words left to say about the success that Shiloh Mounce has had in a Multnomah Lions jersey. However, she proved there was more history to write. Expectations were set high at the beginning of the season as she had already qualified for NAIA Nationals twice before and was bestowed with Multnomah's first All-American in history at the 2021 championships coming 25^th overall in the country. While the season had a slow start, things started to quickly pick up for Shiloh. She dominated a difficult conference championship course becoming the first runner to past the line not part of a scoring team. She finished 6^th overall in that race and ran 11 seconds faster than year before in Cascade Conferences XC Championships. With this performance she easily qualified for her third NAIA XC Championships in a row. Two weeks later Shiloh made the long trek down to Florida to compete at Nationals, which almost feels routine for her now. In her final XC race, Shiloh finished with a season best of 18:26.6 coming 56^th overall which is no small feat. We at Multnomah are thankful for the mind-boggling performances Shiloh Mounce has done with ease in her time at Multnomah. She will go down as Multnomah's most decorated athlete and will be tough to take off that mantle.
With its ups and downs, Multnomah XC continues to show promise of success as break out performances continue to highlight the weekly headlines. Now that XC season has wrapped up for the Lions, these runners set their sight on indoor track. This next step in Multnomah's running program starts this Saturday December 10^th, as a few runners travel up to the world class indoor facility in Spokane, WA, the Podium.