The Cougar men, who are ranked fourth in the NAIA, finished sixth out of 14 teams in their division, beating such notables as San Francisco, UC Riverside and Bowling Green State. Pac-10 powers Oregon and Stanford tied for the victory with UCLA finishing third.
Juniors Kevin Lindsey and Danny Reid led the Cougar contingent with identical times of 12:35. Lindsey was given the advantage and finished 29th while Reid was 30th out of 120 runners. Fellow junior Peter Sherman was 10 seconds behind to finish 39th with a 12:45.
“I think we validated our No. 4 ranking,” said Cougar coach Bill Reeves. “Only 22 seconds separated our top 5 runners, which I think is phenomenal. We did really well running with all those NCAA Division I teams.”
All-American Brianna Carstensen paced the Cougar women to an eighth-place showing by clocking a 14:00 on her 4K race to finish fifth individually out of 158 runners. The Cougars, who are ranked No. 8 in the NAIA, scored 226 points to narrowly edge the NAIA’s No. 2-ranked British Columbia, which tallied 129 points. Stanford won the team race with 21 points, followed by Southern Methodist with scored 63.
“This was a good showing for us,” said Reeves. “To beat the No. 2 team this early in the season is very encouraging. Plus, we were ahead of Simon Fraser through 4 runners. We just have to solidify our fifth runner in the coming weeks.”
Sophomore Whitney Jacobsmeyer finished 33rd with a 14:57, and senior Marissa Reeber was 39th with a 15:06.
Azusa Pacific travels to UC Riverside Saturday (Oct. 2) for the Riverside Invitational.
