RENO, Nev. - Highlighted by sophomore Daniel Sayo's first career win, the Nevada men's cross country team finished first as a team while the women came in second place at the Nevada Twilight Classic at Rancho San Rafael Regional Park on Thursday. 

Packing together for the entire 7K race, Nevada's men claimed every top five slot. Along with Sayo, juniors Adam Sjolund and Jared Marchegger plus seniors Andrew Ribeiro and Carson Leavitt all finished in under 24 minutes. Marchegger, Sjolund and Leavitt placed in the top five at the Twilight Classic for the second time in their careers. 

The Pack's men collected the lowest possible team score of 15 points and finished ahead of UC Riverside, Sacramento State and William Jessup. Nevada's men won its home meet for the second time since 2019. 

"We knew our men's team was going to be good, but finishing one through five like that is unusual," head cross country coach Kirk Elias said. "Those five men ran together and helped each other out and rolled in the second half of the race. A big congrats to them for sure." 

Graduate student Emily Clarke, a former NCAA Division III All-American, in addition to junior transfers Marije Hijman and Paige Penrose shined in their Nevada debuts by placing in the top six in the women's 5.7K race. Sophomore Claire Nelson collected her first career top 10 finish by coming in seventh place with a time of 22:54. 

UC Riverside won the women's team title with 25 points, with Nevada coming in second place with 37 points ahead of Sacramento State and William Jessup. 

"On our women's side, we got detached pretty early and that's something we're going to need to improve on. But I'm actually pleased with where they are at. They were all pretty comfortable in the race," Elias said. "We didn't run Tierney (Wolfgram), which would have changed the dynamic of that race enormously. We're feeling pretty good about where we're at and where we can be down the road when it starts counting." 

The Pack continue the season on Friday, Sept. 23 at the Griak Invitational in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

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MEN'S RESULTS
Team
1. Nevada, 15 points 
2. UC Riverside, 52 points
3. Sacramento State, 71 points
4. William Jessup, 120 points

Individual 
1. Daniel Sayo, 23:29
2. Adam Sjolund, 23:35
3. Andrew Ribeiro, 23:39
4. Carson Leavitt, 23:44
5. Jared Marchegger, 23:45
7. Alexander Mendoza, 24:33
8. Zander Simone, 24:34
9. Sergio Mazon, 24:35 (unattached) 
10. Celime Garcia, 24:42
11. Matthew Kruse, 24:45
13. Tryon Jardin, 24:47 (unattached) 
15. Jackson Hammons, 24:51 (unattached) 
17. Soma Baligad, 25:03
20. Cris Kubatko, 25:20 (unattached) 
21. Alfonso Parsare, 25:30
22. Ryan Petzing, 25:41 (unattached) 
25. Kyle Elias, 25:53
28. Danyom Yosief, 26:14 (unattached) 
29. Brian Kipchumba, 26:14
38. Namar Cornish, 28:28

WOMEN'S RESULTS
Team
1. UC Riverside, 25 points
2. Nevada, 37 points
3. Sacramento State, 61 points
4. William Jessup, 120 points

Individual 
4. Emily Clarke, 22:25
5. Marije Hijman, 22:34
6. Paige Penrose, 22:42
7. Claire Nelson, 22:54
18. Alison Graf, 24:36
20. Madelyn Shipman, 24:39
21. Ashley Boone, 24:53