Men's team races to best WAC Championships finish

Saturday, October 30

Riverside, Calif.

9 A.M.

Grand Canyon

WAC Championships

Photo by: Sam Kuzminski

10/30/2021 11:47:00 AM | Cross Country

Photo Gallery

Bennett, Angotti earn All-WAC second-team awards

By: Sam Kuzminski

Saturday, Oct. 30 | Riverside, Calif. | WAC Championships

Men's team

Women's team

Team finish: Third of 13
GCU top individual: Blake Bennett (senior), 15th of 101

Team finish: Seventh of 13
GCU top individual: Ana Alvarez Tostado (senior), 36th of 97

Follow GCU cross country: @GCU_TrackXC

RIVERSIDE, California — The Grand Canyon men's cross country team had an impressive performance at the WAC Championships as they finished third among 13 teams, which is the best conference finish yet for the men. The women's team came in seventh place.

"It was an on-and-off day for our men today, but it was a great step for the program," GCU head coach Sara Slattery said. "It was really nice having 13 teams on the line today, which made it a much stronger conference race."

The men scored 110 points, while the women accumulated 223 points.

Senior Blake Bennett led the way for the Lopes, crossing the finish line in 15th place with a time of 24 minutes, 26.4 seconds to earn All-WAC second team. Cannon and Blake

"Blake had a big step today," Slattery said. "It was a good finish for him considering he was just coming off of having COVID."

Also landing on All-WAC was redshirt freshman Cannon Angotti. He placed 19th with a time of 24:38.7.

Finishing close behind was junior Landon Rast in 22nd place with a time of 24:44.2 and redshirt freshman Joseph Skoog in 28th place with a time of 24:51.3.

"The men stepped up today, even though we were missing our top runner due to an ankle problem," Slattery said. "We will return every single one of our men next season, and I know they're hungry for more."

For the women, senior Ana Alvarez Tostado finished as the top Lopes runner in 36th place with a time of 22:10.2. Crossing the finish line close behind her was redshirt freshman Hana Hall in 38th place with a time of 22:15.9.

Competing in her first conference race, GCU junior Kendall Drisko finished 43rd with a time of 22:29.2.

"The women were solid today," Slattery. "Ana led the squad and the pack was close together, but it was further back than we wanted. We had a lot of stops in the season in terms of COVID for the women, which made it difficult to get momentum. The women are a very young group, and there's a lot more to come."

The Lopes will compete at the NCAA West Regional Championships on Nov. 12 in Sacramento, California.