Cougars Run with the Best at Aquinas

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Mount Vernon Nazarene University men's cross country team competed against six NAIA top 25 teams including the top team in the nation as the Cougars finished 27th out of 37 teams at the NAIA Great Lakes Challenge hosted by Aquinas (Mich.) College on Saturday.

The University of Saint Francis (Ill.), the No. 1 ranked team in the latest NAIA poll, won the team title with 66 points to just edge out runner-up Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) University (69 points), which is ranked No. 12. No. 3 Aquinas (108 points), No. 7 Shawnee State University (113 points), and No. 14 Saint Xavier (Ill.) University (147 points) rounded out the top five. MVNU was 27th with 811 points.

Individually, Mizael Carrera of Robert Morris (Ill.) University won the title with a time of 24:46.2 (4:59/mile pace) to edge out Saint Francis teammates Dylan Reyes (24:51.2) and Mike Blaszczyk (24:51.5) who had a photo finish for second and third place respectively. The top 17 runners all average a 5:09 pace per mile or better.

Josh Richardson led the Cougars with a time of 27:25.5 as he finished 133rd out of 387 runners in the eight-kilometer race. Ellis Gallion (28:48.6, 231st), William Bogantz (28:57.9, 241st), Jake Sherer (29:07.2, 252nd), Simon Taylor (29:31.5, 275th), Ben Nielson (29:49.0, 288th), Dean Wasil (30:16.0, 306th), Chris Rednour (31:02.4, 330th), C.J. Larue (31:04.4, 331st), and Benny Pook (32:24.2, 359th) rounded out the finishers for MVNU.

"Our men's team was consistent again this week," said MVNU coach Chip Wilson. "It can be tough having back-to-back races like we had these last two weeks, especially for a young team like this. There were some positives that can be taken away from a race like this. First, this whole team showed how competitive they are today. They were focused coming into the race and stayed strong during the race. Secondly, staying consistent is a great way to prepare for the next race. This week will be a much needed week off, and we will be ready for conference the following week. Finally, I saw some great leadership today from many of these guys. They have been an encouragement to each other and they enjoy being teammates. As we back down on miles in the coming weeks, I look for these young runners to feel refreshed and prepared for conference."

The Cougars will return to action on November 9 when they compete in the Crossroads League Championship at Grace (Ind.) College.