TACOMA, Wash. -- Alauna Carstens (Sr.) from The Evergreen State College won the women's 6-kilometer race at the PLU Invitational in cross country on Saturday, Sept. 19. Max Baeder (Sr.) led the Evergreen men's team with an eighth place finish in the 8-kilometer race. The meet was held at the PLU Meadows XC Course.

The winning time for Carstens was 20:50.9. She broke the course record of 21:19 that she set in 2025. On Saturday, Carstens took first place by 19.5 seconds, with Breanna Schmitt of George Fox University (Ore.) finishing second at 21:10.4.

"Alauna ran fantastic! What a great opener!" said Evergreen Head Cross Country and Track and Field Coach Joel Pearson. "We have a long journey ahead of us leading into NAIA XC and NAIA Marathon, and this was the start we wanted and needed!"

Carstens helped Evergreen place eighth out of 19 teams in the women's competition with 228 points. Also scoring for Evergreen were Dani Buttrell (Jr.), Madison Palek (Sr.), Soleil Bianchi (Jr.), and Haley Huber (Fr.). Buttrell set a personal record by 24 seconds while earning 36th place in 23:22.7. Palek was 64th in 24:12.1 and Bianchi placed 81st in 24:56.4. Huber completed the course in 28:00.5. A total of 147 runners competed in the women's race.

"I was very pleased with the women's team to come ot placing eighth out of 19 teams," Pearson said. "We have a way to go to get ready for conference, but that was very pleasing."

George Fox won the women's team title with a score of 35 (2-4-6-11-12). Whitworth University (Wash.) was second with a score of 71, and Spokane Community College (Wash.) was third at 93. 

In the men's 8-kilometer open race, Baeder achieved eighth place with a time of 25:15.4. He was one second out of seventh place and was out of the top five by just 5.4 seconds.

The Evergreen men's team finished sixth out of 12 teams in the open race. Joining Baeder as scorers for the men's team were Josh Beam (Sr.), Evan Williams (Sr.), Nathaniel Sanchez (So.), and Will Niskanen (Sr.). Beam placed 23rd with a time of 26:23.6 and Williams took 35th in 27:01.4. Sanchez was 54th at 28:24.7. Niskanen registered a time of 29:39.8. A total of 100 runners participated in the men's race.

"Congrats to Max," Pearson commented. "That is a huge season opener for him. He ran 72 seconds faster than he did last year at PLU."

Mason Weisberger of Southern Oregon University won the men's race in 24:19.3. Second place went to Josiah Jaquith from Northwest University with a time of 24:38.5. 

Southern Oregon claimed the men's team title with a score of 39 (1-3-4-13-18). Northwest took second place at 48. Trinity Western (B.C., Canada) was third among the collegiate teams at 94.

Evergreen will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 3 at the 51st Annual Charles Bowles Willamette Invitational in Salem, Oregon. The meet will be held at Bush's Pasture Park starting with the men's race at 8:30 a.m. PDT.