Women's Cross Country | 9/4/2015 9:21:00 PM

Men's Results
Women's Results

Junior Miranda Gomez is quickly showing why she could be amongst nation's elite in NCAA Division III cross country.

Facing some top competition from around the area, Gomez notched a top-ten performance at the Elmhurst Earlybird Invite Friday at Eldridge Park in Elmhurst as she took sixth overall with a time of 16:08, pacing North Park to a fourth-place team finish.

"Mia ran very well in getting the fall started and we had many overall solid performances on the women's side," Vikings' head coach Steve Imig said. "A lot of positives to draw from."

Along with Gomez, Kathleen McCarrick took 17th overall with a 16:58.2, followed by Katerina Dague in 26th with a 17:26.1. Also finishing strong were Zoe Larson (17:31.1), Karina Maya (20:15.9), Jaime Tizon (20:31) and Mia Larson (20:35.2).

On the men's side, despite being without Saul Lopez (illness), the Vikings worked their way to an eighth place finish as senior Ricky Barajas paced the team with a time of 21:14.8. Joe Clifton followed with a 21:26.2, Erik Oldenburger 21:58.4, Tomas Simac 22:05, Patrick O'Connell 22:25.3, Jonathan Berggren 22:35, Junious Matlock 22:57.8, Carlos Galo 23:09.7, Carlos Alvarado 23:27.7 and Bjorn Larson 25:15.2.

"Definitely not having Saul Lopez hurt us, but there is far more depth there than what we've had in recent years, Imig said.  "This was a good reference point for both teams that will certainly help us in the weeks ahead."

North Park returns to action next weekend Sept. 12 when it travels to the Ken Weidt Classic at Concordia University Wisconsin in Mequon, Wisconsin.