Men's team sets program-best finish at regionals

Friday, November 12

Sacramento, Calif.

12 p.m.

Grand Canyon

NCAA West Regional Championship

Photo by: Sam Kuzminski

11/12/2021 12:21:00 PM | Cross Country

Lewis leads Lopes with top finish in Sacramento

By: Sam Kuzminski

Friday, Nov 12 | Sacramento, Calif. | NCAA West Regionals

Men's team

Women's team

Team finish: 16th of 29
GCU top individual: Jacob Lewis - 51st of 191

Did not compete.

Follow GCU cross country: @GCU_TrackXC

SACRAMENTO, Calif. ⁠— The Grand Canyon men's cross country team competed at the NCAA West Regionals for the first time since 2018 on Friday. The team made its mark in program history with the team's best regionals finish in 16th place out of 29 teams.

"I am very proud of the men and the way they ran today," said head coach Sara Slattery. "They committed early and fought the whole way."

After not completing the conference race two weeks ago because of an ankle problem, GCU redshirt junior Jacob Lewis pulled off the Lopes' top performance by finishin 51st out of 191 athletes. He ran a personal-best time of 30 minutes, 55.9 seconds in the 10,000-meter race. Lewis was about 10 seconds away from setting the school record that still stands from 2012.

"It felt good to compete at regionals after what happened at the WAC conference race," Lewis said. "I felt the best I have felt during a race in a while, and it always feels great to PR, especially at this distance. I executed my race plan to a tee, and moved up the entire race without letting runners pass me. This is a special team filled with great guys. It was a great end to my cross country season, and gets me excited for the track and field season."

Competing in his first 10,000-meter race, redshirt freshman Joseph Skoog finished second for the Lopes and was close behind Lewis in 65th place with a time of 31:15.0.

"It was great to have Jacob back today," said Slattery. "Cannon lead the charge for our group and Joseph had his best race of the year."

Holding close to the pack of top GCU finishers, redshirt freshman Cannon Angotti and Braedon Palmer also ran in their first 10,000-meter cross country race. Angotti timed in at 31:16.6 and finished in 68th place, while Palmer finished in 89th place with a time of 31:49.1.

Lopes junior Landon Rast finished in 155th place with a time of 33:18. Senior Christian Fagerlin ran a personal-best time of 33:26.2 and placed 165th. Fagerlin will use the COVID-19 waiver to run in another cross country season next year.

Slattery will return every student-athlete on the men's team next season to continue building her talented team.

"We are hungry to break the top ten next season," said Slattery.

The cross country team will transfer to the track and field season soon for indoor season in January.