SALEM, Ore.—Eight Lewis & Clark College men's cross country runners posted PR times, including three top-30 marks in program history, to lead the Pioneers on Saturday morning at the Linfield George Oja Invitational.  
 
THE BASICS
 
Men's Cross Country – 12^th out of 32 Teams – 349 points  
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Juniors Quinn Higgins (eighth), Sam Garcia (10^th) and Emil Miller (26^th) all moved up the Pioneers record board on Saturday morning with new career-best times. The trio helped Lewis & Clark finish in the top-half of the field, despite junior Evan Markelz's absence due to a nagging injury. 
 
Higgins led Lewis & Clark for the fifth-straight meet. The Colorado native continued to rise up the record books as he moved from 11^th to eighth all-time. The junior placed 27^th overall with a PR mark of 24:39.20. 
 
Garcia was right behind him in 33^rd place. The junior, who cracked the top-50 for the first time in his career last meet, moved from 30^th in program history to 10^th all-time. He notched a PR time of 24:44.10. 
 
Miller added a top-50 mark in program history for the second-straight meet. The junior jumped from 40^th all-time up to 26^th. He finished the race 80^th overall with a PR time of 25:19.30. 
 
Senior Theron Plumb came across in 136^th place to finish fourth on the team. He registered a PR time of 26:03.30. 
 
First year Knox Orchard finished in the top-five on the team for the first time in his career. The first year posted a PR time of 26:29.60 to finish 175^th overall. 
 
Junior Colin Shimabukuro placed sixth on the team and 203^rd overall. He compiled a season-best mark of 26:51.70. 
 
Senior Joseph Naylor and junior Jordan Wu finished back-to-back with both harriers posting PR times. Naylor placed 220^th with a mark of 27:05.10. Wu came in just behind him when he crossed the line in 27:08.20. 
 
Juniors Gavin Sellers and John Blockhus also came in right after each other. Sellers notched a season-best time of 27:22.50 to place 247^th. Blockhus registered a PR mark of 27:26.60 to finish 250^th overall. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Higgins, Garcia and Miller have all posted top-50 marks in program history in each of the team's last two meets. Garcia (43.03), Miller (12.71) and Higgins (8.07) improved their PR times by at least eight seconds on Saturday. 
• First year Seth Austin, sophomore AJ Gibbs and junior Teagon Aasen were the final three Pioneers to finish. Austin crossed the line in 27:54.10 to place 285^th. Gibbs finished in 28:19.70 to place 303^rd. Aasen placed 383^rd with a time of 31:20.00. 
• Orchard (70.7), Naylor (41.2), Wu (40.1), Plumb (35.2) and Blockhus (22.5) all improved their PR times by at least 22 seconds. 
• Lewis & Clark finished fifth out of seven Northwest Conference teams on Saturday. They were just 54 points behind Willamette University (295) and five points behind Whitman University (344) despite missing Markelz who has earned All-Conference honors in his first two seasons. 

WHAT'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark will travel to Tacoma on Saturday, November 1 for the 2025 Northwest Conference Championship Meet. The men's race will start at 10:00 a.m.