Uzelac’s new personal best powers Golden Eagles to second-place finish
CLARKSVILLE, Ark. -- Josh Uzelac, for the third-consecutive week, paced the John Brown University men's cross country team, this time with a new personal-best mark, helping the Golden Eagles to a second-place finish at the University of the Ozarks (Ark.) Invitation on Saturday (Oct. 8) morning.
The Golden Eagles captured its highest finish the season, behind the team's best time (2:14:17) of the year. Harding (Ark.) won the team title with a time of 2:08:44 as HU's Camden Barrett earned medalist honors.
However, for the second week in a row, Uzelac's performance set a new standard since the program was rebooted in 2008, besting his own previous program-best time last week. Uzelac finished in third place in a time of 25:33 to lead the JBU effort.
Sophomore Jacob Benjamin captured a top-10 finish, grabbing 8th, behind a season-best time of 26:12, while senior Levi Nordmeyer shaved off over 40 seconds from last week's time to nab 14th place with a 27:11 time.
Freshman Elliot Pearson came in over 30 seconds faster than last week to set a career best, finishing in 27:26 to earn 17th overall. Junior Justin Riffel finished the scoring for John Brown by crossing the line at 27:53, also a personal best, to finish in 22nd overall.
John Brown's average time of 26:51 was 31 seconds faster than its previous time of 27:22 in last week's Chile Pepper Festival meet.
The Golden Eagles will now embark for Wilmington, Ohio to run the #JennaStrong Fall Classic on Friday (Oct. 14). Last season, the squad set numerous current-era records and will look for a strong repeat performance.
