Uzelac nabs third top-10 finish, men land 12th at #JennaStrong
WILMINGTON, Ohio -- Sophomore Josh Uzelac continued his stellar season with a fourth-straight meet in which he set a PR, helping the John Brown University men's cross country team finish 12th at the #JennaStrong Fall Classic on Friday (Oct. 14) evening.
The Golden Eagles captured 12th out of the field of 38 with a team time of 2:13:31, finishing fifth among NAIA institutions. The field of 395, Uzelac finished seventh overall with a time of 25:19, beating last meet's time by 14 seconds to set his fourth-straight current-era program records (since 2008).
Joseph Mullen won the meet with an individual time of 24:49, just 30 seconds ahead of Uzelac.
"I love how bold Josh is when he races," said head coach Scott Schochler. "He goes to the front and makes the race hard for everyone. Overall, we continue to make steady gains. Jacob (Benjamin) continued his strong season and Levi (Nordmeyer) is starting to perform well. Elliot (Pearson) keeps getting faster, and Michael (Games) put together a very good race.
"I think this team is very close to having a breakout performance and is going to be very competitive at the end of the season."
Sophomore Jacob Benjamin turned in a 26:17 time to finish in the 46th slot and senior Levi Nordmeyer grabbed 95th with a time of 27:00. Freshman Elliott Pearson crossed the finish line at 27:21 and sophomore Michael Games was close behind at 27:31, earning the duo 126th and 133rd, respectively.
The Golden Eagles return to action on Saturday (Oct. 22) at the NAIA Midstates Classic, hosted by Southwestern (Kan.) in Winfield, Kan.
