By BRANDON WILLIS
Student Reporter
The Northwestern Oklahoma State University Men’s and Women’s Cross Country team competed in the University of Central Oklahoma Land Run this past Saturday.
According to Riderangersride.com, Senior Luis Chavez had the best performance of the day finishing 49 with a time of 22:32. Sterlin Broomfleld finished 69 with a time of 23:12 and behind him was Brandon Hurst who clocked a time of 23:46 putting him in 49 as well as Manny Reyes who came in at a time of 24:36 slotting him in 94.
Senior Jordan Evans finished with a time of 24:45, placing him at 97. Junior Jake Goodman finished 101 at 27:45 and sophomore Anthony Jauregui rounded out the finishers at 28:34 putting him in 102 overall.
As for the lady Rangers, senior Brittany Urban led the way finishing at a recorded time of 22:41 placing her 86. Senior Kaitlyn O’Toole followed at 23:27 slotting her in 97.
Junior Rebecca Black was next to finish for the Rangers at 102 at a recorded time of 24:09. Fellow junior Willow Gahr finished 108 at a time of 24:38. Freshmen Trista Watson finished the land run for the Rangers at 28:23 which placed her at 117.
This was the Rangers first competition under new head coach Eric Bane. However, coach Bane felt right at home on the course with his team. “It felt good! I love being outside and coaching a cross country team during the fall. Honestly, being a head coach feels pretty similar to being an assistant coach,” Bane said.
Even though the Rangers didn’t win the competition, Coach Bane observed some positives to take away from UCO. “Both teams performed OK. I was excited to find out that both the men and the women listened very well to the information that I gave them in the meeting before the meet and the athletes were able to carry out those instructions on the course,” Bane said.
Bane was pleased with two of his runners specifically in Chavez and Black. “Luis Chavez had a good race for the men, he has worked really hard all summer and it showed and Becca Black had a good and very smart race for the women,” Bane said.
Chavez felt good about his performance but isn’t satisfied. “Individually I believe I performed well enough to be our number one runner. I need to put in the work the next weeks before our next race to break the school record which is reachable after Saturday’s performance,” Chavez said. “With it being the first meet of the season you need to take the weather and it being hot into consideration. Overall, the team could have performed better and will need to by our next meet.”
Being that he is one of the senior leaders, Chavez has very distinctive goals for this team and himself individually. “Our team goals is to make it to regionals and possibly to the national meet.
My individual goals are to be our number one runner and I accomplished that in our first race. My other goal is to break our school record of 27:10 and break it by a lot. Make it to the regional and national meet individually if our team doesn’t,” Chavez said.
The Rangers next competition will be in the Southern Stampede in Joplin, MO. on Sept. 19 at 9 a.m.