FORT VANCOUVER, WA - The UBC Thunderbirds men's cross country team
secured an eighth place team result at the NAIA Cross Country National
Championships Saturday at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. The
women also put together a solid effort, finishing 14th.
For the second consecutive season, Luc Bruchet paced the men's squad,
finishing in 34th with a time of 25:51. Jordan Smith wasn't very far
behind as he crossed the line in 25:56 for a 40th place result. Theo
Hunt (26:24), Justin Kent (26:35), and Aidan Kennedy (27:01) also scored
for the T-Birds. UBC tallied 307 points on the day.
For much of the race UBC looked to battle for a podium finish, but they
dropped down a couple of positions in the team standings during the last
few kilometres.
"The main goal coming into the race was to do better than we did last
year, and we did that," commented UBC's head coach Marek Jedrzejek on
the men's team's performance. "You almost always wish you had done
better though." Last year the men were 9th.
Southern Oregon claimed the men's team title with 105 points narrowly
edging out Wayland Baptist who was second with 124. Malone finished a
distant third with 251.
In the women's race, Nelly Amenyogbe covered the five kiloemtre course
in exactly 18 minutes. That result was good enough for a 38th place
finish. Sarah Reimer (19:19) and Maggie Woodward (19:21) both cracked
the top 100 while Rhiannon Evans (19:36) and Heather Slinn (19:52) also
scored for UBC. As a squad, they totaled 385 points.
"They ran with a lot of courage," said Jedrzejek of the women's team.
"Three of them were running in their first national championships race.
This was a great experience for the women - something that bodes well
for years to come."
Cal State San Marcos repeated as national champions with 88 points.
Biola was second with 127 and Black Hills State finished third with 151.
Also of note, seniors and team captains Nigel Hole and Brittany Imlach
closed out their UBC cross country careers at this race. Hole qualified
for the national championships two times in cross country, and three
times on the track. Imlach qualified for three cross country national
meets. Both have track seasons remaining in the spring.
