STILLWATER, Okla. — No. 16 Gonzaga men's cross country got a preview of this year's NCAA National Championships course and a taste of elite competition at Oklahoma State's Cowboy Jamboree Saturday morning, knocking off six ranked teams en route to a 10th-place finish in the team score.
Led by a 15th-place individual finish from Yacine Guermali (23:42.6), the Bulldogs beat out No. 8 Washington, No. 15 Harvard, No. 21 Princeton, No. 23 Furman, No. 24 Ole Miss and No. 29 Texas in the team standings to take 10th out of 27 teams. All of GU's top seven finished in the Top 100, with Guermali followed by Cullen McEachern (46th, 24:08.3), Wil Smith (49th, 24:09.3), Kyle Radosevich (64th, 24:15.3), Bryce Cerkowniak (71st, 24:19.1), Riley Moore (98th, 24:45.5) and Dominic Arce (99th, 24:47.0).
No. 4 BYU took first overall, one of seven Top-10 teams in the field.
"Mission accomplished," said GU Head Coach Pat Tyson. "Our goal was to get a feel for this course and understand it. Not a perfectly executed race, but we were able to get in the top 10 and beat some ranked teams.
"It was a good day — we're gonna go back to Spokane, get back to work, and get ready for the next one."
GU's men's and women's squads return to action in Lewiston, Idaho for the Inland Empire Classic on Oct. 8.
This story will be updated.
