STILLWATER, Okla. – The MACU cross country teams blazed the trails at the Oklahoma State Cowboy Jamboree as the men's squad finished 20th as a team while sophomore Gracie Sanders and freshman Ivy Moffat made their women's race debuts at the Greiner Family Cross Country Course on Saturday morning.
In the women's 6000-meter, Sanders put together a stellar Evangels debut. Out of the 223 runners in the event consisting of mostly NCAA Division I and II competitors, Sanders turned in the 72nd-best time of 24:21.3 to establish MACU's new 6k record.
While also facing Sooner Athletic Conference powers in Texas Wesleyan and John Brown, Sanders placed third among all SAC runners, edging out JBU's Esmeralda Sandoval by six-tenths of a second.
At the 5k mark, Sanders had a time of 20:17.1, which would have been good enough to top Melissa Aguilar's 5000-meter race record of 20:26.0 set at the Sooner Athletic Conference Championships in Shawnee, Oklahoma on Nov. 6, 2010.
In the men's 8000-meter event, Mason Baker made an incredible dash through the loaded 259-runner field. Sitting in 197th place after 2000-meters, Baker blasted past 73 runners over the final 6000 meters to come away with a 128th-place time of 28:04.8 to net the team 82 points.
Baker's mark placed him in MACU's 8k record book, establishing the fifth-best time in program history as well as setting the fastest mark ever set by a MACU men's runner at the OSU Cowboy Jamboree, surpassing Abraham Busienei's 29:10.87 mark set at OSU's course on Sept. 25, 2010.
Jackson White also found himself a spot on MACU's 8k top 10 list after crossing the finish line in 29:45.40, setting just the 10th sub-30-minute 8000-meter time in program history while also tallying MACU 119 points with his 182nd place finish.
Ryland Baker also turned in a very strong finish, netting a 186th-place time of 29:51.4 to score the Evangels 122 points.
