Evansville, IN--The men had a goal at the start of their 2024 season, and that was to make it to NCCAA Nationals. Today, they made that happen. In order to qualify as a team, your top 5 runners must average 29:23. The top five today averaged 29:07.
The Oakland City men were led by Freshman
Logan Smith, continuing his standout Freshman stint with a time of 27:53, improving by 1 minute and 19 seconds from his first 8,000-meter race at Louisville.
Pierce Lashley ran his best race of the season, just two seconds shy of his all-time best with a time of 28:46. He was closely followed by
Eli Mayes, who ran a personal best of 28:47, which was 55 seconds faster than his debut 8k at Louisville. The fourth place runner for the Mighty Oaks was
Emerick Randolph with a time of 29:34. The group was rounded out by Freshman
Ammon Morgan, who finished in 30:34, which was a 49 second personal best.
"This was a special day," mentioned Coach Guillozet. "The men reached their goal of qualifying for NCCAA Nationals.
Pierce Lashley stepped up in a massive way for us, picking up just where he left off his season last year. I'm ecstatic about this group. They work hard day in and day out, and they are starting to see the fruition from those efforts."
The men will return to action at the NAIA Great Lakes Regional meet on October 26th. NCCAA Nationals will take place in Warsaw, IN on November 15th.
