In its second season as a varsity sport at Bellevue University, the men's cross country team saw tremendous progress with several notable finishes, setting the foundation for a solid future going forward.
The Bruins placed in the top five in three events, including the season-ending North Star Athletic Association championships.
BU had three runners place in the top 20 as the Bruins finished in fourth place at the eight-team season-opening Bill Buxton Invitational hosted by Simpson College. Chris Casart placed 13th overall in the field of 81 with a time of 20:24.2. Edrei Murillo finished in 15th place at 20:28.7 and Gerardo Najera placed 19th in a time of 20:57.8.
Casart placed fourth in the Bruins' second meet of the season, finishing in 27:21.40 in the 8K Graceland Yellow Jacket Invite. Cole Wagner (28:54.20) and Najera (29:07.60) both snagged top 10 finishes as they placed seventh and ninth, respectively, in the 20-runner field.
Casart earned medalist honors to lead BU to a fourth-place team finish at the NCAA Division II-dominated Wayne State Wildcat Classic. He led the Bruins with a 10th place-finish, the best of all NAIA runners in the field, in a time of 27:34.76. Bellevue finished fourth overall, just three points behind Wayne State for third place, and cruised past Mount Marty – the only other NAIA team in the field – by 31 points.
All but one Bruin recorded a personal best time at the Briar Cliff Invitational as the Bellevue University men's cross country team raced to an 11th-place finish at the Adams Nature Preserve. Casart placed 36th with a personal best time of 27:02.3. Wagner was nearly a minute better than his previous best time this season with a time of 27:31.4 to finish 49th while Murillo came in 71st in a time of 28:28.5. Aaron Newton bettered his previous best time by a whopping minute and a half with a time of 28:48.0.
Casart and Wagner turned in top 20 finishes to lead the Bruins to a sixth-place finish at the Mount Marty Invitational. Casart ran strong from the start and held his position throughout the race to finish 17th in a time of 27:39. Wagner's 19th-place finish came differently, as he ran a tremendous final segment of the race to pick up a podium finish.
Wagner and Casart each turned in top 10 finishes en route to earning all-NSAA honors to lead the Bruins to a fourth-place finish at the North Star Athletic Association Championships in Forest City, Iowa. As was the case last season, Wagner finished just one spot shy of qualifying for the NAIA National Championship meet, as he was fifth among runners not on the championship team. Wagner finished eighth in a time of 27:06.1 with Casart finishing immediately behind him in ninth place with a time of 27:13.7. For their efforts, both runners earned NSAA all-conference honors. Edrei Murillo (28:39.7) was next across the line for Bellevue in 23rd place. He was followed in 26th place by Aaron Newton (29:10.8) and Salah Hilowle (33:47.0) in 32nd place.
With no seniors and just two juniors on the 2019 roster, the Bruins look to continue building on their solid season during the 2020 campaign.
