FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- The John Brown University men's cross country team finished 29th at the 29th annual Chile Pepper Festival, led by junior Josh Uzalec, on Saturday morning.
Uzelac led all Golden Eagles and finished 139th overall with a time of 33 minutes, 13.2 seconds in the 10,000-meter race. Junior Jacob Benjamin, who paced JBU in the first race of the season, finished third among John Brown harriers, turning in a time of 33:55.3 and 174th place while freshman Ben Martin's time of 33:44.3 was good enough for second on the roster and 165th overall.
Sophomore Elliott Pearson scored for the second time this year, crossing the finish line at 35.23.0 (226th) while junior Michael Games factored into the scoring for the first time this season at 35:46.2, good enough for 231st place.
"Both teams raced better this week, but we still have to make significant progress in racing aggressively and not just settling into paces," head coach Scott Schochler admitted. "Some very solid performances today came from Josh (Uzelac), who is starting to look like the runner we expect him to be. He is coming along and should be very dangerous at the next meet. Ben (Martin) ran a very strong race and will only get better and Nathan (Pearson) ran great to be our seventh runner. He is a minute per mile faster this year than last year."
JBU finished with a team time of 2:52:02, scoring 824 points.
Women
The John Brown University women's cross country team finished 35th at the 29th annual Chile Pepper Festival, led by freshman Sarah Larson.
Larson led all Golden Eagles and finished 212th overall with a time of 20:10.8 in the 5,000-meter race. It marked the second-straight team-leading effort from Larson after her 58th-place finish at the Missouri Southern State Stampede on Sept. 16.
Junior Carly Coney improved on her first meet by over 20 seconds, turning in a time of 20:49.2 for a 255th-place finish. Junior Reagan Roth crossed the line in 277th with a mark of 21:15.0 and Kylie Tucker's time of 21:46.9 was good enough for 296th place.
Scoring for the first time this year was junior Haley Newcomb, who contributed a time of 21:59.8 and a finish of 303rd.
"Sarah [Larson] had another very solid performance to lead the women's team, and should continue to get faster," head coach Scott Schochler said. "Carly [Coney] is starting to show the form she ended last season with.
"One other milestone on the women's team: this was the 10th-straight year for Kaitlyn [Collier] to compete in the Chile Pepper starting in seventh grade and continuing through her senior season at JBU this year."
The Golden Eagles' team time came in 16 seconds quicker than its season-opener at 22:42.4.
Up next
The John Brown cross country teams return to action Oct. 14 in the Arkansas--Little Rock Invitational on Oct. 14.
Sports on 10/04/2017