Glendale, AZ- The Firestorm Cross Country team traveled west over Interstate 10 for a critical match up on Saturday featuring many of the best teams in the NAIA, and particularly across the west region.  The meet, hosted at Central Park in Santa Clarita, is where the GSAC Cross Country Championships will be hosted on Friday November 7^th.  

The Firestorm men were led by a trio of runners who put together their best performances of the season thus far.  Finishing 51^st out of 233 runners was senior Brandon Ericson who ran a season best time of 25:41. Following close behind Ericson was freshman Peter Brown who ran an 8k freshman record of 26:02 and finished 75^th.  Completing the trio was sophomore Julian Salyer, who after a slow start to the season came alive to run a 60-sec personal best of 26:36 to move up from #7 on the team to #4 and become a critical point scorer at the meet. 

Head Coach Brent Fahsholz said, "I was so excited to see Julian's performance today.  Julian has significantly increased his workload this season, and now that his body is adapting to it, we are starting to see the fruits of his labor.  Not to be overshadowed, Peter ran the fastest 8k by a freshman in program history and continues to build on an impressive freshman campaign."

Ericson who had struggled with sickness much of September also seems to be finding his footing.

Said Coach Fahsholz, "I was joking with Brandon that the third week of September does not seem to like him very much. That week has been a difficult week every season of his college career.  I knew he was going to turn a corner today though, and I continue to be grateful for his character which is to just keep showing up day after day and trusting that the process will lead to a good end. Brandon has been a true leader on our team since his freshman year, and his consistent presence has been critical to the growth of our program."

Rounding out the top five were two Janssen's, both which were fighting off colds, but both still managed to run lifetime bests.  Senior Trent Janssen ran a hefty 82-second personal record to finish 82^nd overall at 26:11, while junior Trevin Janssen ran a 59 second personal record and finished 141^st overall with a time of 27:10.

Coach Fahsholz concluded, "We were without senior Trey Janssen today who is a significant leader and runner for our team.  We have talked though about being good stewards of the moments God gives us, and running for something outside ourselves and I thought the team did that today for Trey.  If we continue to steward the day and run for each other the season will finish as well as today went."

Event Details

• The Master's Invitational
• Team Finish: 13^th / 26
• Team Time: 2:11.40
• Number of runners: 233
• Location: Santa Clarita, CA

Individual Finish

• Brandon Ericson: 25:41 
• Peter Brown: 26:02
• Trent Janssen: 26:11
• Julian Salyer: 26:36
• Trevin Janssen: 27:10
• Braxton Pingleton: 27:18
• Jaden Morton: 27:40
• Michael Sexon: 28:12
• Brady Lambrecht: 29:50

 
Next On the Schedule
Saturday October 19^th the team will travel to Riverside, CA to compete in The Highlander Invitational at the UC-Riverside Ag-Ops Course.  Racing order will flip for this weekend, and the Men's 8k will run at 8:35am after the Women's 6K which will start at 8am.
 
Roll Storm!