McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Max Baeder (Sr.) from The Evergreen State College placed 16th in the men's 6-kilometer race as the Geoducks opened the 2026 cross country season at the Linfield Harrier Classic on Friday, Sept. 4 at Joe Dancer Park. Madison Palek (Sr.) was Evergreen's top finisher in the women's 4-kilometer race as she took 72nd place.

The meet featured a total of 159 athletes in the men's race. A total of 152 runners competed in the women's race.

Baeder earned a time of 18:44.1 to set a new personal record for a 6K race. Jackson Rye (Sr.) of Evergreen placed 40th in 19:35.4, while teammate Evan Williams (Sr.) took 55th place in 20:08.9.

Nathaniel Sanchez (So.) crossed the finish line in 21:08.4 for the Geoducks, as he placed 100th. Will Niskanen (Sr.) was 125th with a time of 21:43.7. A total of 11 Geoducks competed in the men's race.

The Geoducks took seventh place in the men's team standings with a score of 200. University of Portland won the men's title with a perfect score of 15 (1-2-3-4-5). College of Idaho was second with a score of 46 and Southwestern Oregon Community College was third at 122. A total of 13 men's teams competed during the meet.

Palek completed the women's race in a time of 15:55.4 for a personal record over a 4K distance. Dani Buttrell (Jr.) was Evergreen's second finisher in 97th place at 16:30.7.

Sylvie Biesack (So.) placed 103rd in 16:40.2 and Soleil Bianchi (Jr.) took 104th place, also at 16:40.2. Haley Huber (Fr.) of Evergreen was 135th with a time of 18:30.0 in her first collegiate race.

The Evergreen women's team placed 12th with a score of 291. Oregon State University took the women's team title with a perfect score of 15 (1-2-3-4-5). College of Idaho was second at 59, followed by University of Portland in third at 75. Thirteen teams participated in the women's race.

Evergreen will be back in action at the Redmond Harvest Half Marathon in Redmond, Washington, on Monday, Sept. 7. The half marathon is scheduled to start at 8:30 a.m. PDT.