INDEPENDENCE, Ore. – The final regular season race of the 2024 fall season was held today for the Corban University Men's and Women's Cross Country teams, where the No. 22-ranked men's team placed seventh overall in an extremely deep field of competition at the George Oja Invitational, hosted by NCAA DIII Linfield University at the Oak Knoll Golf Course, while the women's program had three student-athletes race on an individual basis for everyone's final tune-up prior to the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Championships that are scheduled to take place in early November.
To view the complete Corban results from today's meet in Independence, click HERE.
"It appears the men's course may have been a little long, but today was a tad rough for some of our team regardless," explained Warriors' assistant coach Stuart Eagon. "Jack had a rough outing, he actually thought he had strained a muscle in the middle of the race and briefly stopped, so we're grateful he was able to finish and is doing okay. Zander, Braydon and Ben all ran well. After having midterms this week, the guys may have been a little bit more tired than we imagined they would, so they'll be backing off training a bit the next few weeks."
Despite a lackluster performance on an individual basis this morning with only one of the 13 Warriors to compete in the men's race logging personal best times, the Navy and Gold still placed seventh out of 23 programs in attendance, placing second among the eight NAIA teams present. NCAA DI University of Portland was the big winners today across the men's competition, as the individual crown and five of the top eight placers donning the purple uniforms.
Corban sophomore Jack Gladfelter was among the race leaders for the first 5K of the 8,000m race, but was forced to pull up after he suffered what was an apparent injury with a few thousand meters to go. In an attempt to save his season and provide both himself and the Warriors with their best opportunity at the CCC Championships, Gladfelter eased to the finish line and was still able to finish 11th overall and second among NAIA competitors with a 24:50.30 final time.
Gladfelter was followed by junior Zander Moha (25:16.00) in 27th, along with sophomore Braydon Lee (26:02.70) who placed 64th to round out the top three Warriors. True freshman Bennet Mason was the lone Corban student-athlete on the men's side to register a personal best finish this morning, as he placed 78th and clocked a 26:23.80 to do so. Senior Forrest Cooley (26:53.50) concluded the team scoring as the fifth Navy and Gold runner to cross the finish line in 106th place.
Coach Eagon elaborated on the women's performance today by stating, "Carrie, Makayla and Johnna all did a good job today! Despite the women's team still struggling with injuries, we are proud of how our ladies performed and look forward to fielding our healthiest team come November."
For the 19 complete women's teams in action, NCAA DI Oregon State University took home both the individual and team championships, with three of the top eight finishers represented by Beavers. Babcock was once again the overall leader for the women's squad, earning herself a 55th overall finish via a personal best 23:30.70 in the women's 6K race. She was within the top ten of NAIA finishers today at tenth overall. Following Babcock on the Warriors' leaderboard was freshman Makayla Rose (27:17.40) in 135th, along with sophomore Johnna Waddell (27:25.80) in 139th.
Both the men's and women's programs will have an opportunity to qualify for the 2024 NAIA National Championships on November 8th at the CCC Championships, hosted by Multnomah at the Rose City Golf Club with the first race scheduled for 10am.
Follow Corban Athletics:
Facebook l Twitter l Instagram l YouTube l Email