SALEM, Ore. – The No. 25-ranked Eastern Oregon University men's and No. 22-ranked women's cross country teams competed in their second meet of the season, with the men placing eighth overall and the women finishing ninth. The Mountaineers competed against a deep and diverse field featuring athletes from NCAA Division I programs through community colleges.
Men's Highlights
In just their second meet of the season, the Mountaineer men opened the day with the 8K.
Grady Greenwood led the way with a strong performance, placing 32nd overall in 24:56.7.
Trevor Nichols followed closely behind, finishing 43rd in 25:08.0.
Jacob Nicholls was the Mountaineers' third scorer of the day. The transfer from Spokane turned in a strong performance, running a lifetime best by several seconds and placing 66th overall in 25:33.8.
Freshmen
Wyatt Jacobson and
Diego Zambrano rounded out the scoring five with strong performances of their own. Jacobson placed 74th in 25:41.3, while Zambrano finished 76th in 25:45.4. The pair, along with senior
Cooper Gover and freshman
Miguel Fuentes, helped form a tight 4-7 pack, with the four runners separated by roughly 10 seconds.
One of the biggest highlights for the Mountaineers was finishing ahead of nationally No. 8-ranked Corban. Eastern Oregon finished behind No. 2 Southern Oregon, No. 4 College of Idaho and No. 18 Northwest University.
Women's Highlights
Despite still being without several runners for various reasons, the Mountaineer women put together a strong team performance, finishing ahead of No. 21 Carroll and No. 18 Southern Oregon in the 5K. Leading the way was
Kaleah Hines, who posted a personal best of 18:11.7, the No. 10 time in program history. Hines placed 24th overall after steadily working her way through the field throughout the race.
After Hines, the Mountaineers had a tight pack of runners.
Taylor Redick finished 75th in 19:04.6, followed by
Kennedy Taylor in 87th with a lifetime-best 19:14.8.
Kiah Carlson placed 101st in 19:27.9, while
Mattie Woodbury finished 108th in 19:39.0. Freshman
Addison Defoort also turned in an impressive debut, running 19:42.3 in her first collegiate 5K cross country race and just her second collegiate cross country race overall. Freshman Malia Mamoulelis rounded out the Mountaineers' top seven, placing 152nd in 20:24.6.
The Mountaineers will return to action Friday, October 17th at the Lewis-Clark Warrior Invite.
