Scherer finish highlights NCAA West Regional

Friday, November 10

Sacramento, Calif.

Grand Canyon

NCAA West Regional

11/10/2023 2:33:00 PM | Cross Country

Lopes record numerous bests to close season

By: Nathan Peters

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Grand Canyon cross country team concluded the season with multiple personal bests at the NCAA West Regionals meet.

The Lopes were represented by eight runners: three of them setting new personal bests and one of them setting a new program best.

"I am really proud of all our athletes that competed today," GCU head coach Paul Limpf said.

On the women's side, there were over 250 regional competitors. GCU was led by junior Abby Scherer, who finished 47th with a personal-best time of 20 minutes, 37.2 seconds and a historic finish.

"Abby had an incredible race and finished with the best placement in program history," Limpf said. "She put herself in a great position and fought the whole way through."

In addition to Scherer, GCU junior Gretchen Kuffel ran her career-best 6,000-meter race with a time of 21:32.4

"The rest of the women had a bit of a slow start, but they didn't panic and really grew and moved up throughout the race," Limpf said. "Each and every one of them continued to work and helped push each other throughout the race."

For the men, there were 200 regional competitors. The Lopes were represented by Cannon Angotti and Jacob Pringle.

Angotti, a redshirt sophomore, had a 10,000-meter personal best with a time of 30:19.2, resulting in a 51st-place finish. That time is almost a minute faster than his time two years ago on the same course (31:16.6).

"Cannon continued a stellar season with a near top-50 finish," Limpf said. "Much like Abby, he put himself in a great position early and continued to fight throughout the whole race."

The cross country team will now shift focus to indoor track season, which will begin Dec. 9 for some of the upperclassmen, while the team's season debut will take place Jan. 12.

Full results from Friday's NCAA West Regional meet can be found here.