ARCATA, Calif.--- Running their first meet since November 2019, both of the Humboldt State men's and women's cross country teams finished in second place in the Jim Hunt Invitational at Baywood Golf & Country Club in Arcata, Calif., this morning.
Rosa Granados and
Shane Burton paced the 'Jacks. Granados won the 6K women's race while Burton captured the 8K men's race.
QUOTES FROM THE COACH: "I am proud of the way we competed today, overall," said head coach
Jamey Harris. "I think we are the teams that we thought we were, and we will only get better from here. Honestly, I think we're all just really happy to get back to real competition."
Granados ran a first-place time of 23:14.99 to lead the 'Jacks to their second-place finish. She finished five seconds ahead of second place finisher Faith Wideman (Oregon Tech). Finishing twenty seconds behind Granados was
Saedy Williamson with her fourth-place time of 23:34.30.
Kayla Penny was the next Lumberjack to cross the finish line with her 11
th place time of 24:47.00. Rounding out the scoring for the 'Jacks were
Pearl Burton (16
th, 25:32.39) and
Andie Kolasinski (17
th, 25:43.11).
"Rosa (Granados) getting the win and the way she executed her race was really awesome," noted Harris. "Saedy (Williamson) was very solid and I was impressed with Kayla (Penny) in her first collegiate race.)
Also participating for the 'Jacks were
Melissa Pinter (26
th, 26:50.31) and
Anabel Ojeda (31
st, 27:48.19).
Southern Oregon's women won the women's invitational with its 35 points. The Raiders were ranked No. 18 in the most recent USTFCCCA/NAIA Rankings. HSU was second with its 49 points followed by Oregon Tech's 69 points. Oregon Tech was No. 13 in the most recent USTFCCCA/NAIA Rankings. Rounding out the team's results were the University of Pacific (fourth, 70 points) and Holy Names (fifth, 137 points).
Leading the way for the Lumberjack men was
Shane Burton with his fifth-place time of 26:45.47. Capturing the men's race was Oregon Tech's Mark French with his time of 26:12.11. Finishing less than a minute behind Burton was
Ian Rusk with his ninth-place time of 27:21.41 followed by
Carson Smith's tenth place time of 27:24.36. Rounding out the Lumberjacks' scoring were
Lucio Rivas (12
th, 27:28.38) and
Sebastian Vaisset-Fauvel (14
th, 27:33.26).
"Shane (Burton) was really good today," said Harris. "Ian (Rusk) ran very smart and he, Carson (Smith), Lucio (Rivas), Sebastian (Vaisset-Fauvel), Julian (Jensen) Kaleb (Traficante) and Jaxon (LeDuc) were all very solid in their first races as Lumberjacks."
Also running for the 'Jacks were
Julian Jensen (15
th, 27:37.89),
Kaleb Traficante (20
th, 27:53.51),
Jaxon Leduc (21
st, 27:59.51),
Michael Gengo (24
th, 28:19.25),
Mica Mills (30
th, 29:25.75) and
Alexander Halter (31
st, 29:37.61).
Southern Oregon won the invite with 23 points followed by the 'Jacks with 50 points. Oregon Tech finished in third with 56 points followed by the College of the Redwoods with 120 points. SOU is currently 15
th and Oregon Tech 11
th in the USTFCCCA/NAIA National Rankings.
UP NEXT: Humboldt State will return to the course on Friday, September 24 in Monmouth, Ore., as the Lumberjacks will participate in the Mike Johnson Classic at the Ash Creek Preserve on the campus of Western Oregon University. This is the same course that will host the NCAA
