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SALEM, Ore. - Northwest Nazarene's Barak Watson and Jaclyn Puga placed in the Top 10 Saturday at the Charles Bowles Invitational, hosted by Willamette University in Salem, Ore.

Watson finished eighth overall on the men's 8,000 meter course in a time of 24:32.05 to lead the Crusaders to a ninth place team finish, clocking the second-fastest 8,000-meter time in school history.  Its the fourth straight race that Barak has finished in the Top 10.

Also helping the Crusaders was sophomore Matt Stark who placed 28th in a personal-best time of 25:00.09.  Out of the 13 NNU men competing, 12 posted new personal best times.

On the women's side, Puga finished 10th in 18:05.99 on the 5,000 meter course, also the second-fasted 5,000 meter time in school history. Puga was followed closely by teammates Jordan Powell and Michelle Phillips who finished 22nd (18:18) and 28th (18:22) overall with the third and fourth-fastest times in school history.

"Our goal this weekend was to tighten up our packs and take some quality risks throughout the race," commented NNU assistant coach Ben Gall.  "The men did that in amazing fashion, as we only had 46-seconds from our third to our 11th runner."

NNU men's results included Seth Clark (80th, 25:56.63), Matt Rankin (83rd, 26:02.72), Kyle Gray (86th, 26:09.38), Luke Hetrick (87th, 26:09.81), Jesse Baggenstos (103rd, 26:24.19), Neil Easter (104th, 26:25.72), Benard Ngeno (111th, 26:28.29), Josh Merioles (120th, 26:37.02), Alex Crystal (126th, 26:43.69), and Joe Lovell (170th, 28:21.89).

NNU women's results included Christine Harwood (89th, 19:11.18), Ashley Rendahl (107th, 19:27.04), Danielle Beesley (152nd, 20:23.61), Meagan Swenson (153rd, 20:25.53), Elisa Decker (158th, 20:33.23), Sam Hill (181st, 21:20.07), Ashley Morman (187th, 21:35.39), and Chelsea Layne (193rd, 22:15.60).

Willamette Chuck Bowels Invitational (Oct. 3 at Salem): Men - Chico State 46, Boise State 51, Willamette 113, Idaho 164, Nebraska Wesleyan 169, San Jose State 232, Whitworth 234, Portland State 243, Northwest Nazarene 250, St. John's (Minn.) 257, Seattle Pacific 370. Individuals (8,000 meters) - 1. Michael Wickman, CSU, 24:08.06; 8. Barak Watson, NNU, 24:32.05; 21. Chad Meis, SPU, 25:54.89; 26. Matt Stark, NNU, 25:0.09. Women - Chico State 43, Augustana (SD) 114, Idaho 116, Whitworth 142, St. Thomas (Minn.) 171, Whitman 177, Boise State 183, Nebraska Wesleyan 206, Northwest Nazarene 232. Individuals (5,000 Meters) - 1. Teegan Schoch, UI, 17:26.92; 10. Jaclyn Puga, NNU, 18:05.99; 22. Jordan Powell, NNU, 18:18.70; 28. Michelle Phillips, NNU, 18:23.49.