SALEM, Ore. — Linfield men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to Salem for their annual showing at the Charles Bowles Invitational hosted by Willamette University. Mya Budzik and Marco Stroman led each team that had four runners cross the finish line.
Budzik led the Wildcats for a third meet this season, opening her race with a 6:20.6 split through the first mile. The freshman led the squad the whole way, crossing the finish line in 21:13.6, a season-best in the five kilometer race.
Jasmine Solso was the second Wildcat to cross the line, running her personal best time of 21:59.5 in the 5K race. The freshman closed with a final 7:14.3 split as the 232nd runner in the large field that featured athletes from all three NCAA Divisions. Junior Liberty McElfatrick also notched a season-best with her time of 24:43.4. Ximena Sanchez-Lopez began the race with a 13-second gap ahead of McElfatrick, but soon dropped a few places during the second and final splits to finish in 26:34.3. Four ‘Cats finished on Saturday morning, not recording a team score for the meet…