Lopes earn fourth and fifth place finishes at George Kyte Classic

Saturday, September 2

Flagstaff, AZ

Grand Canyon

George Kyte Invitational

Photo by: Brian Campbell

Lopes earn fourth and fifth place finishes at George Kyte Classic

9/2/2017 8:11:00 PM | Cross Country

By: Alex Nash

The Grand Canyon men's and women's cross country team opened the 2017 season on Saturday with fourth and fifth places finishes respectively at the 37^th annual George Kyte Classic at Buffalo Park in Flagstaff, Arizona.

"Overall a good start to the season." Said head coach Sara Slattery. "We had some really good performances and some OK performances. But even our OK performances were an improvement from a year ago. It is always tough going up to 7000ft for our first race of the season. Some athletes run well at altitude while don't handle it as well."

The men were led by junior Daniel Flores who placed 12^th overall, completing the 4.5 mile course in 23:51 beating his personal best for the course by 40 seconds. Junior Brendan Wagler also had a personal record for the course by 40 seconds as he finished just behind his teammate with a time of 23:53. Freshmen Joseph Biehl and Chris D'Angelo also had strong days in their first race as Lopes with times of 25:03 and 25:12 earning them 28^th and 31^st place finishes.

"Brendan and Daniel both ran really smart and finished very strong. Jonny Holsten (25^th – 24:56), Angel Salazar (32^nd – 25:14), and Matthew Anciaux (35^th – 25:32) had tough days. They felt a little off today but all ran as good, or better than a year ago. I was really happy with freshman Joseph and Chris. They both ran smart and closed their races well and will be key members to our team this year."

On the women's side, senior Mariah Montoya was the Lopes overall top finisher on the day, finishing the 2.6 mile course with a time of 15:59 on her way to 10^th place. Sophomore Paige Hildebrandt also had a strong day for the Lopes earning a 13^th place finish at 16:14. Not far behind was sophomore Elizabeth Balsan clocking a time of 16:35 and finishing 19^th overall. Coach Slattery was very impressed.

"Mariah had a great day, she ran right what we predicted time wise in a very strong field. She improved by 30 seconds on this course from a year ago and is looking really strong. Paige also had a good day and improved by over 30 seconds. Liz struggles a bit at altitude but ran much stronger than a year ago (over 60 seconds faster). Kenzie Fitzgerald (25^th – 17:00), Lindy Jacobson (28^th – 17:14) and Makayla Cordova (34^th – 17:48) all ran very solid races. Kellie Stroupe (39^th – 17:48), felt a little off but has been training well and was a little tried coming in today."

Host, Northern Arizona finished first overall for the men with 15 points led by Peter Lomong who finished first overall with a time of 23:02. NAU also held the top five spots when the day was over. They were followed by UCLA (49) and Arizona State (100). Grand Canyon missed a top three finish by one point, coming in fourth with 101 points while the University of Arizona rounded out the field with 118 points.

On the women's side Northern Arizona earned the sweep with 46 points and a first place finish occupying three of the top four spots. Arizona State came in second with 62 points followed by UCLA with 65 points. Arizona had the top finisher in Addi Zerrenner who clocked a 15:06 helping them to 69 points and a fourth place finish while the Lopes finished fifth with 95 points.

"It was a hot day and both races were much more competitive and stronger fields than a year ago. We held out a few athletes at this race and haven't backed off in training. I know we will continue to get better each week. We have three months until conference and regionals and there is a lot of work to be done. It was a good starting point for us. You never know where you are exactly until you compete and both our teams are stronger than a year ago."

Other athletes competing for the Lopes today included Greg Hibl (34^th – 25:25) and Sammy Schilling (40^th – 26:44) on the men's side. For the women, Valentina Nyhart (42^nd – 17:50) and Paeden Jackson (45^th – 18:35) also competed.

Up next for GCU is the Dave Murray Invitational at Randolph Municipal Golf Course in Tucson, Ariz. on Friday, Sept. 15. The first event is set to start at 5:00 p.m.