COMPLETE RACE RESULTS

COTTONWOOD, Calif. — The Southern Oregon University men's and women's cross country teams made a quick trip to Northern California on Saturday morning and earned a pair of team and individual wins at the Simpson Invitational on the campus of West Valley High School. 

Andrew Rush and Carter Stedman placed first and second overall, pacing the No. 3-ranked Raider men to a team victory over Oregon Tech. In his Raider debut, Rush completed the 8,000-meter course in 29 minutes 7.35 seconds and Stedman – the winner of last year's Simpson Invite – crossed the line right behind in 29:07.47. 

SOU placed four runners in the top-5. Mason Weisgerber was fourth in 29:45.95 and Josh Hepner came in fifth alongside Weisgerber in 29:45.95. Sophomore Gus Blank rounded out the team scoring, finishing eighth in 30:19.47

Following the men's 8K, Alyssa Johnson took first in the women's 6,000-meter race with a time of 23:25.21, leading the No. 10 Raiders to another win over the Owls. The senior finished 1 minute 32 seconds ahead of second place and 35 seconds faster than her winning time in Simpson's 2025 Invite. 

Emily Picard earned a third-place finish in 25:11.26 and Mercedes Harms finished fifth in 26:05.89. Ashley Jentzsch placed ninth (26:42.15) and Kayla Gorchels was SOU's fifth, placing 10th overall (26:56.57). 

Three other Raiders made their cross country debuts. On the men's side, redshirt freshman Bjorn Austbo was 18th (31:02.26) and freshman Carter Yates came in 25th (31:36.48). For the women, freshman Meadow Baxter finished 11th in 27:09.71. 

The finishing times for both 8K and 6K races at the Simpson Invite tend to be slower than average due to the combination of technical and hilly terrain. A slight detour in the men's competition also contributed some unexpected variety. "The guys' course got way off," said head coach Grier Gatlin, "the top group ran about 800-1000 meters too long." 

Southern Oregon is off next weekend before heading up to Tacoma, Wash., for the Pacific Lutheran Invitational on Sept. 19 where they'll see No. 10 Trinity Western (B.C). 

MEN'S TEAM SCORES – 1. Southern Oregon 20, Oregon Tech 43, Simpson (Calif.) 69

SOU MEN'S 8K RESULTS (of 31 total entries)
1. Andrew Rush, 29:07.35
2. Carter Stedman, 29:07.47
4. Mason Weisgerber, 29:45.68
5. Josh Hepner, 29:45.95
8. Gus Blank, 30:19.47
15. Logan Huffman, 30:39.52
18. Bjorn Austbo, 31:02.26
25. Carter Yates, 31:36.48

WOMEN'S TEAM SCORES – 1. Southern Oregon 26, 2. Oregon Tech 30

SOU WOMEN'S 6K RESULTS (of 21 total entries)
1. Alyssa Johnson, 23:25.21
3. Emily Picard, 25:11.26
5. Mercedes Harms, 26:05.89
9. Ashley Jentzsch, 26:42.15
10. Kayla Gorchels, 26:56.57
11. Meadow Baxter 27:09.71
15. Izzie Calingasan, 28:59.86