RENO, Nev. - Nevada men's and women's cross country ended its season last week at the NCAA Mountain Regional. The 2019 season was the first in 25 years where Nevada had a competing men's team alongside the women.
 
The season began with the only home meet of the season, the Bonanza Casino Nevada Twilight Classic. Both the Nevada men and women earned wins at that event. After the race, freshman Jared Marchegger was named the Wolf Pack Student-Athlete of the Week for his second place finish at the men's team's debut race.
 
Next the Pack traveled to Sacramento, Calif. for the Capital Cross Challenge. There the women placed 21st out of 40 teams with Mikayla Shults taking the lead finishing in 21:48, her fastest 6k of the season. The men saw a 27th place finish with Adam Sjolund taking first for Nevada with 25:22.
 
A trip to Santa Clara came next where Nevada earned multiple new personal records on both the men's and women's teams. Most prominently, junior Lauryn Massic earned a person record two meets in a row cutting over 130 seconds total.
 
At the Mountain West Championships, the Pack competed in below freezing conditions in Logan, Utah. Both teams placed eighth, the men ahead of Fresno State and the women beating three teams including UNLV, taking three points for the Silver State Series.
 
To end the season, Nevada cross country competed in the largely anticipated NCAA Mountain Region Championships in Salt Lake City. Nevada finished in 18th place out of 19 for the men, who competed in their first 10k, and 19th for the women. Alexis Melendrez led the Pack for the women and Adam Sjolund led for the men.
 
This season for Nevada cross country was bitter sweet. While the men's team consisted of mostly freshmen, the women faced multiple injuries which greatly changed the team's dynamic.
 
"We had a depleted women's team," said head coach Kirk Elias. "We redshirted our top five, but the group that was here gave a good effort."
 
Regarding the men's team Coach Elias remarked, "The men got an introduction to big time college athletics and the fact that basically it's a brand new team and we beat a team at an NCAA Regional is actually kind of amazing."
 
"Both team will look a lot different a year from now," said Elias. The women will return five big hitters to their line up as well as some incoming recruits. The men will have a year of experience and a few new key individuals to sweeten the squad.
 
Now that the cross country season has ended, the preparation for the 2020 track & field season has begun. To keep up with the upcoming indoor season and the cross country athletes as they transition to the track, visit nevadawolfpack.com.