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TACOMA, Wash. – The Whitman College men's and women's cross country teams took to the to trails for the first time this month, putting forth outstanding efforts at the PLU Invitational on a weather-perfect Saturday morning.
 
In a field made up of a handful of Northwest Conference schools, the men's team finished fifth with the women's squad placing second behind Division II Seattle Pacific.
 
Maamoon Saleh led the Whitman men with a 16^th place finish (26:49.70) in the 8K race with Tucker Grinnan crossing the finish line right behind him to place 17^th (26:51.40). Silas Miller finished 22^nd (27:10.60) to make it three Blues in the top 25.
 
Seattle Pacific won the men's race with host Pacific Lutheran the top NWC team.
 
Whitney Rich ran a strong 6K race for the Blues women, placing third (21:38.40) behind a pair of SPU runners in a field in excess of 100 runners. Two other Whitman runners cracked the top 15 in Kristen Wanke (11^th, 23:14.30) and Chloe Michaels (12^th, 23:18.40). Ella Greenburg placed 20^th, Bryn Carlson 22^nd and Julia Hess 23^rd to make it six in the top 25.
 
The Blues were far and away the top Northwest Conference team finishing nearly 40 points better than third-place Whitworth.

Whitman has two weeks off before heading to Salem, Ore. for the Charles Bowles Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 5.