LAS VEGAS, Nev. (February 1, 2021) – In their first race of the spring, the Northern Arizona men's and women's cross country teams placed second and third respectively at the Silver State Collegiate Cross Country Challenge on Monday.
The NAU men, ranked No. 1 in the final USTFCCCA National Coaches' Poll of the fall, were led by freshman
Nico Young's second-place individual finish. The Lumberjacks posted 54 team points, five behind the defending national champions BYU's 49 points.
Junior
Taryn O'Neill crossed the finish line first in the women's race, and led the NAU women to a third-place finish behind No. 3 BYU (46) and No. 13 Boise State (61). The Lumberjack women finished with 64 points.
Young, the reigning Gatorade National Boys Track and Field and Cross Country Athlete of the Year, made his much anticipated collegiate debut and impressed with his runner-up finish on the 8K course at Craig Ranch Regional Park. Young turned in a time of 22:52.7, just 2.3 seconds behind BYU's Conner Mantz, last season's national third-place finisher.
In the second showdown of the 2020-21 season between No. 1 NAU and No. 2 BYU, the Cougars came out on top placing four runners in the top 10. Meanwhile NAU, who emerged victorious over BYU at the OSU Invitational in Stillwater, Okla. in October, had three runners in the top 10.
Finishing second for the Lumberjacks was sophomore
Abdihamid Nur in fifth with a time of 23:09.3. Redshirt senior
Blaise Ferro (23:11.6) was the third Lumberjack to cross the line in seventh, while NAU's fourth runner – junior
Ryan Raff – came in 14th at 23:37.1. Redshirt freshman
Corey Gorgas was NAU's fifth counting runner in 26th with a time of 23:51.1.
The Lumberjacks were rounded out by redshirt senior
Cade Burks (23:56.7) and redshirt sophomore
Brodey Hasty (24:21.5) in 30th and 39th respectively.
The NAU women, ranked No. 26 in the most recent USTFCCCA National Coaches' Poll, had an outstanding day, placing ahead than No. 8 Washington and No. 18 Utah on the team scoreboard in their first race of the 2020-21 season.
The Lumberjacks were paced by a host of upperclassmen beginning with O'Neill, who clocked a winning time of 19:51.2 on the 6K course, 1.7 seconds ahead of BYU's runner-up Anna Camp. Senior
Delaney Rasmussen was the second Lumberjack runner across the line in 12th overall with a time of 20:29.2.
Senior
Pipi Eitel (20:38.9) and junior
Bryn Morley (20:39.2) placed 15th and 16th respectively while senior Hanna Behunin (20:50.9) was NAU's final scorer in 20th. Although the 'Jacks had all five of their runners in the top 20, BYU and Boise State placed three and two runners in the top 10 respectively to edge out NAU on the scoreboard.
NAU's final two runners were sophomore
Annika Reiss, who posted a time of 20:55.9 in 22nd, and junior
Jesselyn Bries, in 24th with a time of 21:02.5.
Also competing for the Lumberjacks were redshirt senior
Aldo Marquez and senior
Jenna McCaffrey, who led NAU's B teams in separate races. Marquez placed sixth with a time of 24:19.1 ahead of five Lumberjack men in the top 13. McCaffrey was the individual runner-up in the B race with a time of 21:06.6 as the Lumberjack women had all seven of their runners in the race also finish in the top 13.
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