Madison, Wisc. – The Northern Arizona University Cross Country teams closed out their regular season competition with a pair of third place finishes at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational. The women finished with a team total of 244 points, while the men tallied 145 points.
The women's squad was led once again by
Elise Stearns. Never falling out of the top-10 throughout the race, Stearns finished third with a time of 19:57.5. Stearns has not placed outside of the top five in any meet she has competed in this season.
Annika Reiss was the next NAU finisher, placing 40
th with a time of 20:27.1.
Taryn O'Neill and
Alexis Kebbe finished close together, taking 64
th and 66
th respectively. O'Neill ran a 20:37.4, with Kebbe running a time of 20:37.5.
Jesselyn Bries was the final NAU scorer, finishing 71
st with a time of 20:39.4.
The field was stacked with multiple top-10 teams. The Jacks finished behind only No. 1 NC State and No. 2 New Mexico, who tied with 80 points as NC State won the tiebreaker to claim victory. No. 5 BYU placed fourth, while No. 10 Notre Dame rounded out the top five teams.
The men also saw a third-place finish, with veteran runners
Nico Young and
Drew Bosley leading the Jacks. Young placed second with a time of 23:10.0, only .1 seconds behind the lead runner. Bosley took fifth place, running a time of 23:17.2. Neither runner has finished outside of the top-10 in any meet this season, with Young never finishing outside of the top-5. Santiago Prosser was the next fastest Lumberjack, placing 33
rd and running a 23:37.4.
Ryan Raff was next, finishing 45
th with a time of 23:42.3. Freshman
Colin Sahlman finished 60
th in his first career race, running a 23:50.4. Sahlman had a strong effort late in his race, moving up from 157
th place at the first 2K.
On the men's side, the race was just as packed with competition. No. 2 Stanford took the win over No. 1 BYU. No. 12 Air Force took fourth place, while No. 13 Notre Dame took fifth place in the men's race as well.
NAU also had runners competing in each of the 'B' races, with three in the women's race and five in the men's race.
Bryn Morley led the pack for the majority of the women's race, going on to finish fourth. She had a time of 20:59.5.
Anna Fenske also had a strong overall effort, running a 21:14.8 to place 14
th.
Skyler Wallace was the final running in the women's 'B' race, finishing 70
th with a time of 22:19.7.
Corey Gorgas saw his best finish of the season, placing fourth in the men's 'B' race and running a time of 24:15.5.
Caleb Easton rana 24:50.5 to take 42
nd place, with Jack Scherer close behind in 45
th with a time of 24:53.8.
Randy Espinoza took 70
th place with a time of 25:10.5 and
Aiden Barnhill closed things out for the Jacks in 73
rd with a time of 25:11.3.
The Lumberjacks have a week off before they begin the postseason in Cheney, Washington at the Big Sky Championships. That meet will take place on Friday, Oct. 28
th and will be hosted by Eastern Washington.
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