Final pre-WAC meet littered with bests

Saturday, October 15

Sunnyvale, Calif.

8:45 a.m.

Grand Canyon

Bronco Invitational

Riverside, CA- Sep 17, 2022: UCRiverside XC Invitational at UCR Agricultural Operations Course.

10/15/2022 4:30:00 PM | Cross Country

Men's Results Women's Results

Lopes end regular season at Bronco Invitational

By: Josh Hauser

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — The Grand Canyon cross country team wrapped up the regular-season portion of its schedule with a successful Saturday full of personal and school bests at the Bronco Invitational.

"What a day for the Lopes!" GCU head coach Paul Limpf said. "Our top-10 list for the Santa Clara course was rewritten today."

GCU's women finished fifth as a team among 28 schools. The men finished 11th out of 26 schools.

Lopes sophomore Joseph Skoog and graduate Blake Bennett posted times under 24 minutes for the first time in their careers, marking the first- and second-fastest times in school history for any 8,000-meter race. Skoog finished in the top 10 in a large field, clocking a time of 23 minutes, 51.9 seconds. Bennett wasn't far behind with a 23:56.4.

GCU graduate Christian Fagerlin (24:24.9, personal best) rounded out the top three for the Lopes with the fifth-fastest time at Santa Clara's course in GCU history.

"The men kicked us off today and set the tone," Limpf said. "Joseph Skoog and Blake Bennett both broke the 24-minute barrier for the first time in their careers. Christian Fagerlin continued his strong season with a huge PR of 24:24.9. Jonah Archer had an incredible day for a freshman, running 25:21 and continues to grow with each week. Jacob Pringle rounded out the scoring with yet another PR. We had a couple of guys have some off days, due to illness, that would normally score for us, so we will get them healthy and ready for conference."

The women's 6,000-meter race followed the men's run. GCU's top nine runners all posted personal bests and clocked in at under 22 minutes.

"The women continued their incredible season," Limpf said. "All nine would have made the list prior to today, but our depth ended up pushing a few out of the top 10."

Junior Katie Hooten paced the Lopes again and finished 14th overall with a time of 20:28.2. Sophomore Abby Scherer (20:43.2) and graduate Jodie Judd (20:50.4) finished second and third for the Lopes within seven seconds of each other.

"Katie Hooten once again led the women and was quickly followed by Abby Scherer, who had a massive PR and went under 21 for the first time," Limpf said. "Jodie Judd ran her first race for the team this year and ran incredibly well to finish third for us right behind Abby."

Freshman Kaitlyn Kaye and senior Kendall Drisko rounded out the top five for GCU's women.

"The standout today was freshman Kaitlyn Kaye, who ran 21:08," Limpf said. "She continues to grow in confidence each week and it's showing in the results. Kendall Drisko finishes as the last new name in the top 10 and rounded out the scoring for the Lopes today. The rest of our women deserve a lot of credit for their efforts today, as they helped push each other throughout the race."

GCU turns the page on the regular season and is ready for the WAC Championships.

"Both teams leave with further confidence and it sets us up nicely headed into the WAC Championships meet in two weeks," Limpf said.

The meet is scheduled for Oct. 29 in Nacogdoches, Texas.