LUBBOCK, Texas - Daniel Sayo notched a top-50 finish and Ashley Boone set an impressive personal record Friday morning as Nevada Cross Country wrapped its 2023 campaign at the NCAA Mountain Regional in Lubbock, Texas.

The Nevada women finished 17th in the team standings, while the men came in at 15th on the Chaparral Ridge Cross Country course.

"The men were steel. Not a single one of them blew up even though for more than half, it was their first 10K. They rallied tough and we moved up through the course of the race," said Nevada cross country head coach Kirk Elias. "Daniel's performance was impressive; it's the second-highest finish at a regional meet since we've reinstated the program. And he will be back in 2024 with a 'COVID' year. We ran a really good group of men with more maturity all coming back next year."

"I'm proud of this group of women; this is a meet where they could've been last and they fought really hard. They ended up beating three teams and we had one athlete get a PR, which is unusual at this point of the season," Elias continued. "Some ran out of gas on the course, but our women stayed really tough. Special kudos to Thalia for running with bad shin splints to give us a good team score, so good work."

Following his program-best Mountain West Championships finish two weeks ago, Sayo once again led the way on the men's side. Sayo was running in 58th position at the first checkpoint (1.71 km) of the 10-kilometer course, and steadily navigated his way through the pack. At the 3.28-km checkpoint, he had climbed to 42nd, and remained in the top 50 the rest of the way. In 50th with just over two kilometers remaining, Sayo pushed the pace, coming in 44th at 30:19.0.

His position (44th) is the second-highest at a regional by a male Wolf Pack runner since the program was reinstated in 2019 (Adam Sjolund finished 41st at the NCAA Regional in 2022).

Climbing up the standings was a theme for the men in Friday's race. Tryon Jardin, Zander Simone, and Jaedyn Chase each improved places by double digits from the first checkpoint to the finish. Jardin, who was in 97th at the 1.71-km mark, finished 84th in 31:19.1, edging Simone (31:19.2) by a tenth of a second. Chase, who was in 102nd at the first checkpoint, rallied up to 89th by the end, clocking a time of 31:35.8.

Jackson Hammons (111th, 32:28.5), Pierce Simpkins (114th, 32:41.5), and Sergio Mazon (115th, 32:43.5) rounded out the seven-member Wolf Pack squad Friday.

Ashley Boone paced the Wolf Pack women in the first race of the day, moving up a total of 24 spots from the opening checkpoint (one mile) to the finish of the six-kilometer course. Boone was running 104th at the mile mark, before moving up 17 spots over the second mile. She battled her way through that pack with a kilometer and a half to go, and finished 80th in a personal-best 21:36.3.

Claire Nelson was seconds behind Boone, coming in 87th at 21:42.9. Jasper Fievet improved nine places from the opening checkpoint to the finish, coming in 102nd at 22:11.1, while Hannah Lee was 116th in 22:45.0 and Thalia Arrate fought through nagging shin splints to come in 123rd at 23:09.1 and help push the Pack past three teams in the standings.

Women's Standings
1. Northern Arizona - 39
2. BYU - 59
3. Utah - 120
4. Colorado - 131
5. Utah Valley - 136
6. Colorado State - 159
7. New Mexico - 178
8. Utah State - 217
9. Wyoming - 250
10. Air Force - 258
11. Montana State - 310
12. Texas Tech - 324
13. Weber State - 359
14. New Mexico State - 432
15. Southern Utah - 458
16. Northern Colorado - 473
17. Nevada - 508
18. Idaho State - 532
19. UTEP - 551
20. Montana - 571

Nevada Results
80. Ashley Boone - 21:36.3
87. Claire Nelson - 21:42.9
102. Jasper Fievet - 22:11.1
116. Hannah Lee - 22:45.0
123. Thalia Arrate - 23:09.1

Men's Standings
1. Northern Arizona - 36
2. BYU - 89
3. New Mexico - 97
4. Air Force - 112
5. Montana State - 135
6. Colorado - 169
7. Colorado State - 205
8. Wyoming - 231
9. Weber State - 272
10. Utah State - 300
11. Southern Utah - 323 
12. Utah Valley - 327
13. UTEP - 334
14. Texas Tech - 341
15. Nevada - 408
16. Idaho State - 454
17. Montana - 460

Nevada Results
44. Daniel Sayo - 30:19.0
84. Tryon Jardin - 31:19.1
85. Zander Simone - 31:19.2
89. Jaedyn Chase - 31:35.8
111. Jackson Hammons - 32:28.5
113. Pierce Simpkins - 32:41.5
114. Sergio Mazon - 32:43.5