Nearly a month after opening the season with the George Kyte Classic at Buffalo Park, NAU’s cross country teams return to action Saturday with the Dave Murray Invitational in Tucson.
Start lists were released Thursday, and it appears NAU is resting most of its top women and men. That’s understandable because September has been a big training block for NAU, and the Lumberjacks have two big meets in the following three weeks: the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational on Friday, Oct. 4; and the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals on Oct. 19.
Here’s who you won’t see lining up at the Tucson Country Club Golf Course at 7 a.m. Saturday morning, when it’s expected to be near 90 degrees: Elise Stearns, Alyson Churchill, Maggi Congdon, Karrie Baloga, Ali Upshaw, Nikita Moore for the women; David Mullarkey, Colin Sahlman, Kang Nyoak for the men.
So, who is running?
For the women, we’ll get the second appearance of top transfer Alex Carlson, who finished 10th last fall for Rutgers in the NCAA Mid Atlantic Region Cross Country Championships for Rutgers. Senior Maisie Grice, the senior who transferred to NAU from New Mexico last year and finished 76th in the NCAA Nationals, will make her 2024 debut. Highly-touted redshirt freshman Emma Stutzman, one of the nation’s top recruits in 2022, will make her official first appearance after running unattached last year.
For the men, top returners Santiago Prosser and Corey Gorgas, both seniors, will run, and Cael Grotenhuis, coming off a breakthrough outdoor track season, will also make his 2024 debut.
Here’s the complete list of NAU competitors:
Women: Haley Burns, Carlson, Anna Fenske, Grice, Alexis Kebbe, Ava Mitchell, Keira Moore, Stutzman, Odessa Zentz.
Men: Caleb Easton, Randy Espinoza, Gorgas, Grotenhuis, Justin Keyes, Erik Le Roux, Zack Munson, Prosser, Aiden Puffer, Ford Washburn.
As usual in this meet, NAU will have a couple young runners competing unattached on Saturday. Most prominent is freshman Manny Perez, a California state champion for Cathedral High School, in the men’s race. Perez ran unattached at the George Kyte Classic and finished seventh. And, for the women, true freshmen Payton Godsey, Makenzie McRae and Kiki Vaughn all will race. Vaughn actually debuted at George Kyte, finishing 14th.
Other teams participating in the meet: Arizona (host), Cuyamaca, El Paso Community College, Grand Canyon University, Haskell Indian, New Mexico State, USC, UTEP.
— Dark Sky’s Susan Ejore, who finished sixth for Kenya in the 2024 Paris Olympics 1,500 meters, lined up Thursday night for her final race of the season, a 1,500 meters race at the Athlos Games, the highly-anticipated woman-only track meet.
Ejore ran well, but when Faith Kipyegon is in the race, it’s almost impossible to overcome her. Kipyegon won in 4:04.79, leading most of the way, while Ejore finished third in 4:06.25.
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