Bowers, Guzman pace Bucs in Bluegrass State

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Sept. 30, 2023) – It was the Jason Bowers (Parys, South Africa) and Evan Guzman (Franklin, Tenn.) show yet again for the Buccaneer men's cross country team. 

Competing in their second meet of the season, Bowers finished runner-up, while Guzman placed 11th at the stacked field from the Live in Lou Classic on Saturday from E.P. "Tom" Sawyer Park in Louisville, Ky. 

Bowers, who won his first race as a Buccaneer two weeks ago at Virginia Tech, was looking to make it back-to-back wins on Saturday. The Buccaneer newcomer just missed that chance as he finished second in the field of 378 runners with a time of 23:14.3. Bowers was second at the 2100m split (6:03.4) and fourth at the 3900m split (11:21.7) before climbing two spots to the finish line. Bowers, who won this event last year while running at Cumberland University, shattered his personal best 8K cross country time on Saturday. His previous best was 23:51.6, set at last year's North Alabama Showcase. 

West Texas A&M's William Amponsah won the Gold race with a time of 23:08.6. 

Guzman, who posted his second straight top-20 showing at this event, registered a time of 23:59.3. The Franklin, Tenn. native climbed the leaderboard the entire race as he was 64th at 2100m checkpoint (6:13.5) and moved to 36th at the 3900m mark (11:42.0). From there, Guzman leaped 25 more spots to get inside the top-15. Ironically, Guzman's time was the same as he clocked in at last year's meet on this course. 

ETSU placed 12th in the 32-team field. 

The Bucs will have one last tune up before the Southern Conference Championship when ETSU heads back to Spartanburg for the Upstate Invitational, which will be held on Saturday, Oct. 14 at the Roger Milliken Research Center. 

For more information on ETSU men's cross country visit ETSUBucs.com and click on cross country.