FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (September 21, 2023) – The Northern Arizona University cross country teams will hit the road for their first trip of the season, heading to Charlottesville, Va.to compete at the Virginia Invitational.
This meet will give the teams their first look at the course which will play host to the NCAA National Championships later this season and will take place on Saturday, Sept. 23.
The teams are coming off a two-week hiatus, prior to which saw them race their first meet of the year, the George Kyte Classic. At the George Kyte Classic both teams saw dominant victories, with the women scoring 15 points and the men scoring 18 points.
The women were led by junior transfer
Ruby Smee who impressed in her first race as a Lumberjack, running a 2.5-mile time of 14:34.6 to place first.
Elise Stearns and
Aliandrea Upshaw were right behind, finishing second and third respectively and each running a time of 14:34.7.
The men were just as dominant, placing five runners in the top six.
Drew Bosley took first place for the second year in a row, finishing with a 4.5-mile time of 21:32.7.
Santiago Gomez-Prosser placed second with a time of 21:47.74. Not far behind were
Kang Nyoak and
Theo Quax who finished fourth and fifth. Nyoak ran a time of 21:55.9 while Quax finished with a time of 21:56.7.
Many of the top teams in the nation will be competing this weekend. This includes Colorado, Stanford, North Carolina, Virginia, Georgetown, Washington, Providence, and Michigan State for the women. This includes BYU, Stanford, North Carolina, Colorado, Virginia, Syracuse, and Villanova for the men.
The meet will begin on Saturday at 5:00 a.m. MST with a combined men's and women's open 5K. The men's collegiate 8K will begin at 8:45 a.m. MST with the women's collegiate 5K following at 6:30 a.m. MST. Live results for the races can be found
here.
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