RESULTS
STILLWATER, Okla. (October 17, 2020) – The Northern Arizona men's cross country team opened their season with a first-place finish in the 8K on the OSU Cross Country Course at the OSU Invitational this morning with a score of 36 points.
All-American senior Luis Grijalva crossed the finish line first overall at 23:30.2 and began what would be an eventual seal to NAU's victory. Grijalva led the pack into the first 2K of race, and continued to lead at the 3K and 6K marks with an average pace of 4:43.7 per mile.
"Luis executed with a lot of patience and he ran a tactically very smart race. We knew he was in a good place," Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Michael Smith said. "The guys up front are some of the best in the country so it was just good to affirm where he stands."
The Northern Arizona men displayed a dominating performance today placing first overall. Oklahoma State scored second with 42 points and BYU took third with 59 total points.
In a highly competitive race, BYU, the defending National Champions, cliched the second and third-place individual slots with only 1.2 seconds separating Grijalva and BYU's Conner Mantz between first and second.
Sophomore All-American Abdihamid Nur was the next Lumberjack across the line placing seventh. With a couple unattached Colorado men in the mix, Nur picked up five points for the 'Jacks.
The third NAU runner to finish was redshirt freshman Corey Gorgas. With a time of 24:13.7 he took 13th and was able to secure nine points.
"It was Corey Corgas's first official collegiate cross country race and his last 1,000 meters was one the fastest in the entire race so he is closing very well," Smith said.
"We had several guys out there today running their first collegiate cross races and just opening up for us. We're short on races right now which makes it difficult to find these guys the experience they need competing, but I was just happy to see these guys out there in NAU uniforms," Smith added.
Junior Ryan Raff and All-American sophomore Drew Bosley wrapped up the scoring for NAU.
Raff placed 14th with a time of 24:14.4 and Bosley finished at 24:18.0 placing 15th with the pair adding 21 points to the team total.
Behind NAU's five scoring runners, the 'Jacks also had three additional runners finish ahead of BYU's fifth scorer. Redshirt sophomore Brodey Hasty, freshman Santiago Gomez-Prosser and redshirt freshman Caleb Easton placed 18th, 19th and 27th respectively. BYU's final scorer placed 30th.
Following the OSU Invitational, it is unclear when the 'Jacks will compete next.
"Usually when you're coming off a meet you have a clear path, but we don't have that right now. We want to get back to campus safely, and we'll be back to training when it's safe to do so, and we'll just be looking ahead for the next opportunity," Smith said. "We're really fortunate to have the chance to compete and we look forward to the future."
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