Men's Cross Country | 9/26/2025 11:42:00 PM
LAS VEGAS, N.M. — The Oklahoma Panhandle State men's and women's cross country teams sent a combined five individuals to the New Mexico Highlands University Cross Country Jam on Friday afternoon.
All five runners competing finished inside the top half of competitors in their respective races.
Head coach
Cyrus Hall noted that one of the primary reasons OPSU travels to race in Las Vegas, New Mexico, is due to the high altitude of roughly 6,400 feet and the adversity that comes with that.
Hall was overall pleased with the effort from both the men and women as his teams transition to the "championship" portion of their seasons.
Men's 7k: On the men's side,
Trevor Youngblood set a new school record in the 7k, completing the course in 23:56 to take eighth place of 21 individuals.
Not far behind was
Joshua Samaron, who took 10th with a time of 24:11.
"The goal was let's be under control, let's run together and see what happens," Hall said. "They both ran lightyears better than they did last year (here).
"Trevor set a new school record in the 7k. … They both ran a minute to a minute and-a-half faster than they did last year, so I think that bodes really well for them moving forward into conference. I'm very, very pleased with them."
"We're going to get back to work, kind of get ready to go for what I would call the championship stretch," Hall said.
Women's 5k: The Aggies placed all three of their runners inside the top 13 of 26 finishers, with
Carolina Valenzuela besting their efforts in eighth place with a time of 19:58.
Shania Chavez and
Lillyan Gerow bunched up to take 12th and 13th, respectively, with times of 21:02 and 21:29.
"Carolina led us today … She ran almost two minutes faster this year on this course than she did last year … and the fastest time any girl has run on this course in school history," Hall said. "Shania and Lillyan ran pretty solid. I think all three girls struggled a little bit with the altitude … but they ran well. Shania wasn't on her 'A' game today, but she really fought hard that last kilometer of the race."
"We're going to get back to work, we're going to start to try to get freshened up a little bit for some bigger meets. … I kind of consider this the close of our 'preseason' so to speak, and now we're going to start getting into the more important races. I'm excited where we're at, I think we're going to be pretty good here in a few weeks."
What's up next: OPSU men's and women's cross country travel on Oct. 11 to John Brown University for the Golden Eagle Invitational, run on the same course as the Nov. 8 SAC Championships.
