Top Runners Go the Distance

Track and Field

When L&C senior Sean Richardson returned to Portland from his final indoor track and field meet of the year, he didn’t know he had just competed in his final collegiate event ever.

Hours before, there were mixed emotions as he had simultaneously broken L&C’s indoor school record for the 3,000 meters but missed the qualifying mark needed for the NCAA Indoor Championships. However, he did get a nationals bid in his final collegiate cross country season last fall.

Richardson’s emergence as one of the top runners in the conference coincided with Madeline Swanberg’s debut season. The first-year racer from Ovando, Montana, earned Northwest Conference Freshman of the Year honors in a year that included setting the fourth-fastest mark by a first-year athlete in Lewis & Clark history. Like Richardson, Swanberg set a new school record in the 3,000 meters during the indoor track and field season.

Richardson, who is also a Pamplin Scholar, a member of the John S. Rogers Science Program, and the 2019 Lewis & Clark Dell Smith Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, is looking to what’s ahead post graduation, while Swanberg hopes to excel in future collegiate track seasons.