FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - In their only home meet of the season, both Northern Arizona University men's and women's cross country teams put on a show for the hometown fans as NAU swept the George Kyte Classic, Saturday afternoon at Flagstaff's Buffalo Park.

The Lumberjack men crossed the finish line with the top five runners of the meet. If you blinked at the wrong time, it would have made it difficult to see who exactly won the race. NAU's Peter Lomong finished in first with a time of 23:02.4 which was just microseconds faster than Tyler Day (23:02.6) and Andy Trouard (23:02.8) in second and third.

Geordie Beamish was right behind in fourth (23:07.8) and Matt Baxter came in fifth (23:18.4) to guarantee the Lumberjacks their seventh-consecutive victory in the Classic.    

The plan for the men was to stay in a tight pack for the first three miles of the race, and then to let them loose for the final one and a half remaining miles.

"For the guys, we were really impressed with their execution of the race," assistant coach Becca DeLoache said.  "They stayed nice and controlled for that first section of the race, we told them to open up and do what they wanted the last mile and a half and they did just that and starting rolling to the finish. It was really nice to see that. Overall, it was a great day for the guys."

"It was a fun race, we don't always run as many guys in uniform as we did today, so to run a lot of guys who were at the NCAA Championships a season ago here at George Kyte this year was really fun and I'm sure great for the community to see," assistant coach Jarred Cornfield added.

"The top three guys of Andy, Peter and Tyler really stood out," Cornfield said. "Peter was our eighth last year and really worked hard this summer and it really showed so that was really encouraging to see. Geordie Beamish was right there, Matt Baxter was right there, Cory Glines as well, so I'm definitely really excited about the crew of guys that we have here."

For the women, steady was the gameplan as well as NAU stayed with the pack for the first mile or so before making a move from the middle of the pack all the way to the front. Paige Gilchrist led the way with a second-place showing (15:36.7) and was followed by Mikayla Malaspina in third (15:43.5) and Miranda Myers in fourth (15:43.9). Kylie Goo (14th, 16:18.8) and Jessie Williams (23rd, 16:59.6) battled hard down the backstretch to earn the Lumberjacks the Classic title, improving on a second-place finishing from a year ago.

"We wanted them to stay nice and controlled for the first mile and a half and then that last mile they could take off," DeLoache said. "And that's when you saw them take off and pick up on some people."

"All of our girls team was together at a mile and a half and then we gave them the green light to go," Cornfield added. "Paige Gilchrist took that green light and went. She was probably in 15th place and ended up second in the last mile. She looked really strong and so that was really encouraging to see. Those girls worked really hard this summer and it's really showing now.  We got a long way to go but by no means where they rested or sharp for this race, so to see them on tired legs up there towards the top part of the race was really encouraging."

The men won the event with a mere 15 points. They were followed by UCLA (49 points), Arizona State (100), Grand Canyon University (101) and Arizona (118) to round out the top five.

The women earned the title with 46 points.  They were followed by Arizona State (62), UCLA (65), Arizona (69) and Grand Canyon University (95).  

What made the meet even better for NAU was the performance of all of its unattached runners. Unlike in years past, the Lumberjacks sent out their top runners across the board, while still giving a chance to the newer faces of the program to compete in the event as unattached racers.  

Pipi Eitel, Hannah Behunin, Delaney Rasmussen and Jenna McCaffrey on the women's side and Elliot Gindi, Jack Shea, Luis Grijalva, Ryan Wolff and Beau Prince for the men all finished as top runners, not just as unattached racers but overall as they put up very competitive times.

"It was also really neat to see the five [women] freshmen that were running as unattached," DeLoache added. "They were right there in the mix and ran really, really well. It was exciting to see their debut, and I know all the girls were excited to get out there as well."

"Some of our freshman we ran unattached but saw really encouraging things from them," Cornfield said. "Pipi and Hannah had really solid races and honestly all around, really encouraging, there was nothing bad that happened in the race and they all ran really well, especially for their first time in altitude."

"Some of the freshman guys really stood out, Elliot Gindi and Jack Shea had strong races today," Cornfield added. "A couple other guys were also right there but it's really hard to race in altitude so those guys I'm confident will adjust. A lot of positive things and it's great to see those guys up front to make sure we take home that team title on our home course is really important for us."

"It was really impressive also that basically the whole team was finishing pretty close to each other, that goes to show our depth right now and what we're building which is really exciting," DeLoache said.

It also made it special for the Lumberjacks to be able to run in front of the Flagstaff community for the first and only time during the cross country season.

"We have a lot of home meets in indoor, but in outdoor we're never here and this is our one opportunity for cross country to be here at home, especially with the men coming off a national championship title, there's a lot of excitement in the community so to have them out here and to have their support was really neat and I know all the athletes enjoy that too, hearing the 'Go Lumberjacks' that you don't hear as much when we're on the road," DeLoache said. "It's great to see the support from the university and the community and everyone around."

"The Flagstaff community is wonderful to us," Cornfield added.  "It's a very close-knit, running community. We have a lot of support and that really showed today. There were tons of people out here supporting NAU and that's something we don't take for granted and something we're very appreciative of.  It's too bad we don't get to race up here more often.  We do for the indoor season, that's another fun experience with the community, but great to see them out today. It was a bigger showing than last year and it keeps getting bigger and us as a coaching staff and us as a team are very thankful for Flagstaff and NAU.  A lot of other NAU coaches were here from other sports so that was awesome to see. It's great to see us out here supporting us today."

Both men's and women's teams will have an off-week of competition before returning with the Dave Murray Invitational hosted by the University of Arizona on Friday, Sept. 15.