STILLWATER, Okla. (Oct. 17, 2020) – For the second time this season, Oklahoma Christian raced Saturday morning as the only NCAA Division II cross country team in an otherwise Division I field, and for the second time, the Eagles knocked off a Big 12 Conference squad.
Led by sophomore
Colten Brown of Boise City, OC finished seventh in the eight-team field in the Oklahoma State Invitational, run on the OSU Cross Country Course, one of the nation's top venues for the sport. OC, with 209 team points, finished ahead of Oklahoma (230) for the second time in two weeks, as the Eagles also topped the Sooners in the OSU Cowboy Jamboree on Oct. 3.
In the field for Saturday's race were Division I powers Northern Arizona, OSU and Brigham Young, along with Southern Utah, Kansas State, Texas-El Paso, Oklahoma and OC, along with unattached runners from Colorado.
Brown placed 62nd in the 96-man field, covering the 8,000 meters on a cool, crisp morning in a time of 26:07.2. He was followed in short order by three teammates – sophomore
Owen Pearce of Kingman, Kan. (66th in 26:13.8), senior
Colton Meyers of Allen, Texas (68th in 26:16.8) and senior
Caleb Bozarth of Bakersfield, Calif. (70th in 26:23.5).
For the second straight meet, junior
Nick Parizek of Oklahoma City was the Eagles' No. 5 runner, finishing 82nd in 27:32.5.
Other OC runners were sophomore
Kolten Johnson of Lewisburg, Tenn. (88th in 27:50.7), sophomore
Dylan Burrows of Melbourne, Australia (93rd in 29:15.7), senior
Brady Aderholt of Vernon, Texas (94th in 29:52.3) and sophomore
Austin McNair of Denton, Texas (95th in 30:02.9).
Luis Grijalva of Northern Arizona was the individual winner, posting a time of 23:30.2, and he led the Lumberjacks to the team win as well, as Northern Arizona had 36 points, six fewer than Oklahoma State.
The Eagles now will focus on preparations for the Lone Star Conference Championship, to be run on Oct. 31 in San Angelo, Texas. Unlike the two meets in which OC has run on the Oklahoma State course, no fans will be allowed at the LSC race due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
