LINCOLN, Neb. -- Running in their first eight-kilometer race of the season, the Bruin men's cross country team turned in a set of great performances, highlighted by a BU school record by Richard Marcoux. Saturday morning's Greeno/Dirksen Invite in Lincoln featured a deep field from NCAA Division I to junior college athletes. Temperatures in the 60s and partly sunny skies made for good running conditions for the 360 finishers as they raced around the rolling hills of Lincoln's Mahoney Golf Course.
Marcoux took nearly one minute from his 8K personal best as he smashed the Bruin school record by over thirty seconds, averaging just over five minutes per mile to finish in 25:31.8. He finished 59th among all runners, 33rd among non-Division I runners and eighth among NAIA athletes, defeated by seven runners all from the NAIA's seventh-ranked team, University of St. Mary (Kan.).
Collin Kotz had an outstanding day as well, taking forty seconds from his career best of a year ago. He turned in a time of 27:10.0 to place 174th. Kaleb Wooten was 276th in 28:55.8, and freshmen Robbie Siford and Enoc Ortega were 308th and 314th in 30:13.9 and 30:23.4 respectively. As a team, the Bruins placed 25th of 31 scoring teams. Drake University edged Kansas University by one point to take the team title, while Colby Community College's Kgadi Monyebodi ran an amazing 23:31.7 to capture the individual title.
In the women's five-kilometer event, all four Bruin entries improved on their initial outing at Augustana from two weeks ago. Madison Nelson led the way for the Bruins, cutting a half minute from her time at Augie. Nelson finished in 18:38.6 to place 63rd overall, 24th among non-DI, and eighth among NAIA runners. Alicia Rivera Camargo placed 183rd in 20:48.0, and Olivia Russo ran 22:15.6 for 252nd, both running faster times on a significantly more difficult course, while Ashley Guatemala-Ortiz was a full two minutes faster with her 23:28.2 in 283rd place. Runners from Division II Winona State (MN) went one-two to lead their team to the title.
Coach Craig Christians: "I liked what I saw from every one of our runners today. Some are very young and learning how to race, but this was a big step in the right direction. It's great to see both Richard and Collin have great races. They're both training at a very high level right now, and I'm glad that they're being rewarded for that. I love to say, "Keep Showing Up," which just means going through the daily grind, and as long as everyone does that, we're going to keep getting better."
The Bruins will be back in action in just six days when they travel to Wayne for the Wildcat Classic on Friday, September 22.
