by Nick Dill, Student Reporter
The Northwestern men’s and women’s cross country teams ran at the UCO Land Run. The race took place on Saturday, Sept. 8th. The men’s team finished sixth place.
Garrison Blanton finished 13th place with a time of 21:01.14. His time was just seven seconds behind the overall winner. Kory Wilson and Noble Buckhaults finished 46th and 47th place. Wilson finished with a time of 22:50.84 and Buckhaults finished with 22:56.85.
“Today was an exceptional first meet of the season,” head coach Jill Lancaster said. “Today we closed the gap throughout the team, and we are working better.”
11 men competed as individuals in the meet. Victor Cruz had the best individual time with a 23:27.00. Northwestern competed against many other universities. A few schools competing were Oklahoma Christian, Southern Nazarene, Oklahoma Baptist and Pittsburgh State. Pittsburgh State won the meet.
New assistant coach Craig Binkley had some comments about the race.
“The men look solid. We had a ton of new runners going today, and they performed wonderfully,” Brinkley said. “This was the new guys first four-mile run, after being used to running a 5k. We are really looking forward to what’s next.”
The Northwestern women’s cross country team finished 11th place at the UCO Land Run.
Jasmin Garcia was the first Ranger to finish with a time of 20:50.99. Garcia finished 37th place. The next Ranger to finish was Jessalyn Rivet-Tissot with a time of 21:32.66.
“I felt that we performed better than what was expected from us,” Lancaster said. “For this first meet, it was important that we work on closing the gap throughout the team and for us to continue to work together. We are working on growing and developing the youth.”
Camille Lear finished in the top 20 with a time of 21:45.90. Madison Meyer and Mariah Mallory were the last two runners to finish as the top 5 runners for the Rangers. Meyer had a time of 21: 49.92, and Mallory finished with a time of 21:56.95.
“I felt that our freshmen really stepped up and did great today,” Brinkely said. “We had a good day and it’s a great first race to build on going forward.”
The women’s and men’s cross country’s next race will be on Sept.13 in Lawton, Oklahoma at the Aggie Duels.