LOGAN, Utah - Nevada finished the Mountain West Championships with a posting of eighth place for both teams. The men ranked just above Fresno State and the women finished before UNLV, San Diego State and Fresno State.
The races took place in below freezing conditions at Steve and Dona Reeder Cross Country Park hosted by Utah State. The men's 8k race began first where Nevada's Adam Sjolund finish first for Nevada and 56th individually with a time of 25:11. Following him was Jared Marchegger who finished with a time of 25:29 and 57th place after racing only twice this season. Third for Nevada was Massimiliano Swenson who ran 26:00 and earned 59th place.
The men's team posted a final score of 243 ahead of Fresno by 33 points and behind San Jose State by only 23. This was a stronger performance than what was predicted by the Mountain West pre-championship poll which had the Nevada men ranked last.
Next was the women who finished the 6k race with Lauryn Massic earning Nevada's top spot. Massic finished in 50th place individually with a time of 22:01 which is just two seconds from her personal record. Behind her was Alexis Melendrez with a time of 22:10 and 53rd place individually. Third for the Nevada women was Mikayla Shults who was 55th and ran a time of 22:13.
The final score for the women's team was 244 which was ahead of ninth place UNLV by 49 points picking up the 3-point win for the Silver-State Series. The Wolf Pack women finished behind San Jose State by 50 points. The results of the women's race came out as predicted on the pre-championship poll for Nevada having finished in eighth place.
"We had a lot of people run very well from where they're at in training and compared to most of the rest of the season" said head coach Kirk Elias. About the men's race Elias said, "A lot of them were running solo and they ran really tough." Regarding the women's race, Coach Elias said he was, "really pleased at how people ran... when is wasn't going exactly the way they wanted, they hung tough."
Next up is NCAA Mountain Region Championship in Salt Lake City, Utah on Nov. 15. To stay up to date with Nevada cross country's men and women, visit nevadawolfpack.com.
