GCU men take meet title

Friday, September 13

Tucson, Ariz.

5 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Dave Murray Invitational

Photo by: Michael Rincon

9/13/2019 6:42:00 PM | Cross Country

Men's Results Women's Results Photo Gallery Photo Gallery

Lewis, Haren, Fagerlin pace Lopes in Dave Murray Invitational

By: Josh Hauser

TUCSON, Ariz. — The Grand Canyon men's and women's cross country teams took home first and second place, respectively, at the Dave Murray Invitational on Friday night.

"It's always a big deal for us to compete well against a Pac-12 school," GCU head coach Sara Slattery said. "Arizona has had a lot of success. We have a strong team as a whole and put on a good performance today. We've got big things to come as a group."

The men finished first by placing six runners in the top 10 to lead a three-team field that included host Arizona and Mesa Community College. GCU was led in the 7,000-meter run by redshirt freshman Jacob Lewis (third place, 22 minutes, 40.1 seconds) and sophomores Anthony Haren (fifth, 23:00.4) and Christian Fagerlin (sixth, 23:02.2). Sophomores Blake Bennett and Bryce Schmisseur and junior Joseph Biehl rounded out GCU's top-10 finishes.

"Jacob had a really good run again," Slattery said. "He finished really strong. We're looking to get better and better every week. That's what I like about these first two races. It's not as much pressure, so we're trying to put a lot of work in this last month and the guys are handling it well and improving."

On the women's side, GCU finished second amid the same three-school field. Senior Paige Hildebrandt was the runner-up in the 5,000, clocking in at 18 minutes, 14.9 seconds.

"Paige is healthy and feeling good again," Slattery said. "Each week looks better and better."

Seniors Erika Wallace (18:53.7) and Elizabeth Balsan (19:13.4) finished back-to-back in sixth and seventh. Junior McKayla Cordova and freshmen Kourtney Delperdang and Woodlyn Smith finished in a pack at 10th, 11th and 12th places.

"As a whole, we have more depth so others can step in and make up for those that are having bad days," Slattery said.

After a week off from competition, the Lopes will leave the state for the first time this season. GCU heads to Sacramento, California, where it will participate in the Capital Cross Challenge on Sept. 28.