Bruin Men in Middle of the Pack at Blazing Tiger Cross Country
ASHLAND, Neb. -- The Bruin men's cross country team finished 14th of 26 complete squads at today's Blazing Tiger NAIA Classic hosted by the College of Saint Mary and Doane University at Mahoney State Park. Thirty-five invited squads and 341 total athletes competed today in ideal cross-country racing conditions, with firm footing and temperatures in the mid-50s at the time of the race. The meet brings together the top squads from the region, including three teams ranked in the top fifteen and three other squads receiving votes in the latest NAIA poll.
For the fourth meet in a row, the Bruins were led by senior Jose Lara Flores, who ran to a 26:03.7 clocking for 58th place. Xavier Mallow had his second quality outing in as many meets, finishing 80th in 26:23.5. He was followed by Jack Brown, seventeen seconds and twelve places back, in 26:40.2, which placed him 92nd. The final Bruin scorers were Griffin Kisoryo, who was just off his personal best in 27:09.2 and 135th place, and Ronald Kipyegon, who recorded a season best 27:12.4 at 140th. Cody Fikar crossed the finish in 149th in a time of 27:20.3 while Robbie Siford was 196th running 28:01.6. Trey Larson was 218th in 28:29.6 while Alejandro Corona Martinez finished in 324th running 32:04.4 as the final Bruin competitor.
Head Coach Craig Christians: "This course is more challenging than our meet at Dordt a couple of weeks ago, and on average, we were about a half minute slower. We saw some improvement from our team, and nobody fell off significantly, so we're walking away from this with an overall positive experience. The guys know there are better races ahead, and I think we can put one together in Billings at the conference in a couple weeks."
The Bruins will travel to Billings, Mont., for their first Frontier Conference championship on Nov. 7. The championship team and top four individuals who are not members of that team will advance to the NAIA championship on Nov. 21 in Tallahassee, Fla.
