CHENEY, Wash. – The Whitworth University cross country teams opened the 2025 schedule with a pair of fourth place finishes on Friday at the Clash of the Inland Northwest hosted by Eastern Washington University.

The Pirate teams defeated each of the other small college schools in the meet, finishing only behind the three NCAA Division I teams.

The men's team scored 136 points, topping Whitman by four.  London Haley led the way with a 14^th place finish (10 points) with a time of 19:07.4 on the six-kilometer course.  Isaak Akiyama crossed 30^th (16 points) in 19:36.6. 

Nolan McLaughlin was 50^th in 2:22.4 (30 points), Tommy Wirth took 60^th in 20:45.2 (39 points) and Hayden Malone crossed in 62^nd in 20:49.0 (41 points).

Gonzaga scored a perfect 15 points to win the meet.  The final men's team scores were: Gonzaga 15, Idaho 68, Eastern Washington 83, Whitworth 136, Whitman 140, Lewis-Clark St. 144, CC of Spokane 180, Walla Walla Univ. 207.

The Pirate women posted the same score as LCSC, but got fourth place based on tiebreakers.  The Gonzaga women repeated the perfect score of the Bulldogs' men.  The final women's team scores were: Gonzaga 15, Eastern Washington 65, Idaho 72, Whitworth 140, LCSC 140, CC of Spokane 163, Whitman 183, Walla Walla Univ. 230.

Kezlie Thygesen and Lily Jones led the Pirate women.  Thygesen finished in 25^th place with a time of 15:19.3 on the four kilometer course, while Jones was 26^th in 15:21.7, scoring 19 and 20 points, respectively.  Ashlyn Dary finished in 29^th place with a time of 15:26.2 (22 points). 

Madison Frazier took 48^th place in 16:27.1 (32 points), while Madilyn Danaraj rounded out the scoring in 53^rd place in 16:41.9 (37 points).

Whitworth will return to action in two weeks at the Washington State in Colfax, Washington.