ISSAQUAH, Wash. – If the preview meet is any indication, the NCU men’s cross country team should be just fine at the Cascade Collegiate Conference championship in November at the same Lake Sammamish State Park course. NCU took second place on Friday, finishing just nine points behind Southern Oregon University.
The Raiders, ranked No. 2 in the NAIA national coaches’ poll, won the event with 34 points, but the Beacons weren’t far behind with 43. Northwest University was third (70) followed by Walla Walla in fourth (88).
Beacon sophomore Jacob Truitt exuberantly crossed the line in 25:40, setting a personal record and rolling to the first individual event victory of his career. Truitt won the event by 18 seconds over Ryan Alexander from Southern Oregon.
Also posting spots in the top-ten were Conner Covey and Andy Martinez, taking sixth and seventh respectively. Covey came across the finish line in 26:16 while Martinez posted a career-best 26:21.
Rounding out the scoring spots for the Beacons were Dan Carrier (13th, 26:58) and Carson Bain (18th, 27:14)
Also competing for NCU were Isaac Sanchez in 19th (27:23), Diego Delaplane in 29th (28:45) and Jacob Lackey in 30th (28:55). For senior Delaplane his time knocked ten seconds off of his previous personal record.
The Beacons will look to use their successful run as a springboard in eight days as they travel to Salem for the Charles Bowles Invitational, hosted by Willamette University at Bush Park.