(October 18, 2024) Clinton, Mississippi - After a few weeks off after the Chile Pepper Festival, the Bucks were hoping to have recharged their batteries after a lot of races in late August and September. Today's races were the final tune-up for the men before heading to Bentonville next weekend for the Region II Championships. The Bucks ran this morning at Choctaw Trails in the Watson Collegiate Classic hosted by Mississippi College.

There were 211 collegiate men's runners this morning, with 26 total teams represented. There were NCAA DI, DII, and DIII schools in attendance, as well as NAIA and NJCAA.

The Bucks finished 15th overall in the race as a team. This was good enough for 3rd in NJCAA schools that competed in the 8K race.

The men had a very successful run this morning with the two guys leading the way breaking the 26 minute mark. This had only been done one other time by a Bucks runner (Jordan Foster - 2019 @ Mississippi College). Foster's school record was broken this morning by Danny Lamas (Dodge City, KS) with a time of 26:30.8 that was good enough for 49th overall. Yermy Gonzalez (Horatio, AR) also set a personal record with a time of 26:41.8, placing 54th. 

The rest of the Bucks finished as follows: 

132nd - Alfred Rodriguez (Dalhart, TX) - 28:40.0

135th - Montana Wesley (Waldron, AR) - 28:41.7

143rd - Beau Reed (Moore, OK) - 28:55.4

159th - Noah Burns (Weatherford, TX) - 29:24.1

173rd - Tommy Banks (Houston, TX) - 30:07.0

186th - Desmond Thompson (Fort Smith, AR) - 31:31.2

Race results can be found at https://live.xpresstiming.com/meets/41215/events/xc/1514328. 

The men now turn their attention to the Region II Championship next Saturday, October 26th, in Bentonville. Their race begins at 9 am on the campus of Northwest Arkansas Community College.

#DefendTheMountain