SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. – The MACU Cross Country teams ran their final regular season race at the JBU Golden Eagle Invitational at Pollard's Field on Saturday morning, the location of the 2025 Sooner Athletic Conference Championship next month. Freshman
Cora Eyler paced the women's team by setting a solid 6k mark while the men's team placed third as a team with
Jaden Rodriguez leading the way with a top five finish.
WOMEN'S RACE
- Distance: 6000-meters (6k)
- Number of Teams: 7
- Number of Finishers: 72
- Score/Place: 188 / 6th of 7
- Top Finishers:
- Team Notes:
- Of the seven teams that had enough finishers to register a team score, Mid-America Christian as a squad finished sixth out of those seven squads, netting 188 points to place ahead of Science & Arts (211) and just behind College of the Ozarks (112).
- Freshman Cora Eyler was MACU's top runner in the meet, coming away with a 50th place 6k time of 27:26.69 to score 32 points and notch MACU's eighth-fastest 8k time in the program's record book.
- Junior Kaylee Campbell also found herself on MACU's top 10 6k list with the ninth best time of 27:49.35 to come in 56th place and score 37 points for the Evangels.
- Freshman Lisa Hernandez-Cruz was MACU's next best scorer with 38 points, turning in a time of 28:05.60 to cross the line in 59th place.
- MACU's remaining scoring runs came from freshmen Jessie Foster-Anderson and Londyn Medrano, who finished back-to-back in 62nd and 63rd with times of 28:12.98 and 28:33:05 to net the Evangels 40 and 41 points.
- The race marked MACU's first 6k race of the season and will prepare the Evangels for the SAC Championship meet, which will also be a 6k event.
MEN'S RACE
- Distance: 8000-meters (8k)
- Number of Teams: 9
- Number of Finishers: 83
- Score/Place: 78 / 3rd of 9
- Top Finishers:
- Team Notes:
- With one of MACU's top runners withdrawing from the race and another missing the meet due to injury, Mid-America Christian narrowly missed out on putting together a top two finish as a team as the Evangels placed third out of the nine teams competing in the meet. MACU ended up scoring 78 points, finishing only seven points behind race host John Brown (71) in second and race champion Oklahoma City (43).
- Overall, the Evangels finished well ahead of NCAA D-II Rogers State (102) in fourth and fellow SAC competitor Texas Wesleyan in fifth (151).
- One of the bright spots for the Evangels in the race was Jaden Rodriguez ran his fastest 8k time of the 2025 season as the sophomore crossed the line in 25:38.27 to come away with a fourth place finish. Rodriguez has consistently been MACU's best runner in 8k events as it was his third-best personal time and set the fourth-fastest mark in MACU's 8k record book.
- Mohamed Zairi was MACU's next-best finisher after he turned in a 15th place time of 26:38.69 while Aidan Collins placed not far behind in 17th with a time of 26:51.56.
- Alexander Pebeahsy found his way into the top 20 with a time of 27:04.27 while freshman Jonathan Avila recorded his 8k personal-best of 27:11.03 to finish just two spots behind in 22nd place and round out MACU's scoring runs.
- Junior Daniel Ponce also posted a personal-best 8k time in the event with a 27th place time of 27:26.33, scoring 26 points and bettering his previous mark by 11 seconds while Connor Gerth scored MACU's seventh-best time with a 27:58.39 to finish in 34th place.
- With Pollard's Field being the location of the 2025 SAC Championship, the Evangels got the chance to run against most of its league competition as six full teams from the SAC competing in the event as well as three individuals from Oklahoma Panhandle State.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will now rest, recover, and prepare for returning to Pollard's Field next month as the Evangels will be back in Siloam Springs for the SAC Championships on Nov. 8.
