Aug. 30, 2008

Complete Men's ISU Dual Results

Pocatello, ID -- The Idaho State men's cross country team took third place in the season-opening Idaho State dual on a windy Saturday morning at the Centennial Course.

ISU sophomore Ryan Davis posted the Bengals' fastest time, running the 6K course in 20:04.38, shaving two minutes of his previous personal record at Centennial.

"Coach told us to try and pack together, so I was just trying to keep a couple of guys with me as much as possible throughout the race, and I think we did that pretty well," Davis said. "On the first lap, I was able to save a little energy for the second lap. I was able to pass a couple of guys on the last stretch. This was a good race for me."

On the team side, Southern Utah ran away with the meet, as the top five Thunderbirds placed in the top 12. SUU's Cameron Levins won the race, finishing the course in 18:51.06, more than 25 seconds ahead of teammate Nate Jewkes.

SUU finished with 25 points, and Utah Valley came in second with 41. Idaho State was third with 86, one point ahead of fourth-place independent team Jaguar Shark.

After Davis, the next ISU placer was freshman Logan Torgison, who ran the track in 20:16.28 to place 16th overall. Eric Strand finished 26th overall with a time of 21:59.76.

The rest of ISU's lineup was Chaz Anestos (22:20.38, 29th), Scott Pearson (22:82.35, 31st), Aaron Wolfe (23:40.41, 34th) and Erik Solberg (23:40.91, 35th). Anestos, Strand and Solberg are freshmen, and Wolfe and Pearson are sophomores.

"We're inexperienced and young," head coach Brian Janssen said. "But those two guys (Davis and Torgison) are already showing they're going to be pretty young. So the future is bright, but it might be a year away."

The ISU cross country teams see their next action on Sept. 6 at the Autumn Classic in Provo, Utah.