Newcomers take spotlight in Tucson

Saturday, September 28

Tucson, Ariz. / Tucson Country Club

M - 7 a.m. | W - 7:45 a.m.

Grand Canyon

Dave Murray Invitational

9/28/2024 12:00:00 PM | Cross Country

Men's Results Women's Results

First-year Lopes Smith, Stukas pace GCU's runners at Dave Murray Invitational

By: Josh Hauser

TUCSON, Ariz. — A pair of newcomers took the spotlight for Grand Canyon cross country with sophomore transfer Ethan Smith leading the Lopes' men and senior Shoshanah Stukas pacing the Lopes' women at the Dave Murray Invitational on Saturday.

A rarity in college cross country, the Lopes were competing in back-to-back weekends after participating in the UC Riverside Invitational last weekend.

"Today was another opportunity for both squads to test out different race tactics in a small-type situation," GCU head coach Shayla Houlihan said of Saturday's meet being held largely on Tucson Country Club golf fairways. "Getting comfortable in all sorts of different race simulations is going to be valuable as we move through the season. I saw a lot of grit from the women's squad as a whole today. Racing on tired legs is something we don't do a lot of at the college level so it was great to get out there and work through that uncomfortability."

Smith — a transfer from Moorpark College and the first runner recruited by Houlihan upon her summer hiring — checked in with a time of 24 minutes, 19 seconds to place 19th among point scorers and lead GCU's men in the 8k run.

"Ethan ran another great race this weekend," Houlihan said. "He's really figuring out what the 8k distance is all about."

Stukas — a senior recently signed from GCU's club triathlon program — logged a mark of 22:35.4 to finish 20th among point scorers and lead GCU's women in the 6k run.

"Shoshanah shocked the women's squad by leading the team today," Houlihan said. "She had a fantastic race. Beforehand, I asked a group of them to take a risk, and that's exactly what Shoshanah did."

GCU finished sixth in the men's race and fourth in the women's race among eight-team fields.

Behind Smith, the men's other top-five finishers included junior Mac Eliason (24:59.2, 29th), senior Alex Rafferty (24:59.3, 30th), graduate Emmanuel Corral (25:12.0, 33rd) and junior Greyson Akers (25:21.2, 35th).

For the women's team behind Stukas, other top-five finishers included junior Hana Hall (22:42.0, 21st), graduate Niki Hemmerlin (22:52.9, 25th), freshman Selah Akers (23:14.2, 27th) and freshman Eva Johnson (23:31.4, 29th).

The Lopes are already down to one final regular-season meet: the Bronco Invitational on Oct. 19 in Sunnyvale, California. After that, GCU will head to the WAC Championships in Orem, Utah, on Nov. 1.