Evergreen senior Max Baeder 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 in McMinnville, Oregon.
Senior Madison Palek 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 and a total of 152 runners in the women’s race.
Baeder earned a time of 18 minutes, 44.1 seconds to set a new personal record for a 6K race. Senior Jackson Rye placed 40th in 19:35.4, while teammate and senior Evan Williams took 55th place in 20:08.9.
Sophomore Nathaniel Sanchez, a North Thurston graduate, crossed the finish line in 21:08.4 for the Geoducks and placed 100th. Senior Will Niskanen 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. 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. Junior Dani Buttrell was Evergreen’s second finisher in 97th place at 16:30.7.
Sophomore Sylvie Biesack placed 103rd in 16:40.2, and junior Soleil Bianchi took 104th place, also at 16:40.2. Freshman Haley Huber, a Tenino graduate, 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. 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 Monday, Sept. 7.
