On Oct. 5 at 9 a.m., the John Brown University Cross Country Team raced in their first NAIA home meet of the season at the Golden Eagle Invitational. Not only was it the first home meet of the season, but it was also the first meet ever held at the revamped Pollard’s field (named for its location on the president’s property).

The men’s team placed second overall, falling to the Rogers State Hillcats by a single point. Despite the loss, JBU ran well, considering that Rogers State competes in NCAA Division II cross country, which is a higher division than NAIA athletics. The Eagles Chase Shermer placed second overall with an 8k time of 26 minutes, 7.98 seconds, while Zach Briscoe, Samuel Burkett, Josiah Petak and Andrew Janzen rounded out the top five for the Men’s team. Additionally, Payton Brack finished third overall, running unaffiliated despite being a future JBU student to preserve eligibility. Had his time counted, the Golden Eagles would have placed first as a team.

The women’s team also placed second to Rogers State in the 6k event, with Anna Keys, Emma Brown, Cecily Snyder, Zoe Stout and Mikey Duncan claiming the top five spots for the Golden Eagles.

The home meet provided the Eagle Athletes with a much larger crowd than usual, especially with the meet taking place on Alumni Weekend.

“It was cool to see all the teams and get the chance to support all the guys I know on the team. It was fun to watch and see our team go out, especially against Rogers State. That was good competition they had, and to keep having good competition like that, I think it brings an exciting race. I would attend another race there in the future,” student spectator Brian Either said.

The extra support also provided an edge to the Golden Eagle runners, with the extra energy and support from the surplus of in-person fans.

“The racing environment at home is just a lot of energy. I think the course itself lends to spectators being able to cheer on runners at a variety of locations versus some of the other courses that we run … there’s a lot of fan energy at the home meets versus the away meets,” Zach Briscoe said.

The course was built this summer by the coaches and runners after several years of looking for a place to run and host home cross-country meets for the school. The process began with the coaches keeping the field mowed over the summer while they planned out potential routes to have the distance and conditions right. At the beginning of the semester, players worked to keep the wooded section of the course clean by weed-eating the track on the field and cleaning up the forest section with shoveling and landscaping.

Most of the course is located on the field behind JBU President Chip Pollard’s field, but some of the route involves running into the woods, adding unpredictable terrain to the course. However, this terrain may have provided a distinct advantage to the Golden Eagle runners, as they have been practicing on this course since the start of the cross-country season.

“The big thing was I didn’t have to think about the course at all. It was ingrained in my head. I knew when to push. I knew which lines to hold. I knew which lines to take wide. I knew which lines to relax on, and so my body was just already in a rhythm with the course before I showed up,” Briscoe said.

Despite this, things did not go entirely according to plan.

“We kind of deviated from our normal strategy. We normally pack run, and this meet that was still the plan, but we had some guys get a little bit antsy and take it out a little bit too quick. We opened a lot faster than we should have, and then we had a hard time closing. I think it was just a reminder of, hey, we got to run as a group. We got to run as a pack; we got to run as a team,” Briscoe said.

The team hopes to build on the experience of the Golden Eagle Invitational and implement these lessons going forward. The next cross-country meet is the Blazing Tiger Classic on Oct. 26 in Ashland, Nebraska, before the team prepares for the Sooner Athletic Conference Championships on Nov. 9 in Bethany, Oklahoma.

Photo courtesy of Lance Scott