TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Junior Mathew Chesum captured second place to lead Toledo to a sixth-place finish in the men's open race at the NCAA Pre-Nationals in Tallahassee, Fla. on Friday. 

Chesum ran a time of 24:17.8 in the 8000m race, trailing only Lexington Hilton (23:52.3) of Arkansas State. As a team, the Rockets had 174 points. Northern Arizona won the open race with 38 points. Northern Arizona also won the Garnet race, which featured many of the top-ranked schools in the country.

Following Chesum for the Rockets was sophomores Jacob Harris (11th/24:26.5), Jake Rethman (37th/25:04.6), Benjamin Otis (59th/25:32.4) and Jonathon Hrivnak (105th/ 26:08.8).

"This was a much better meet for our men than we had a few weeks ago at Notre Dame," said Head Coach Andrea Grove-McDonough. "The times were better for most of the team, and might have even been better but the heat was really starting to kick in by the time we ran. Mathew had a very strong race; he would have held his own in the main race."

NCAA Pre-Nationals
Friday, Oct. 15, 2021
Men's 8000m Open Race

Team Scores - Open Race
1 Northern Arizona 38 4 5 7 8 14 41 65
2 BYU 91 3 16 18 21 33
3 Georgetown 124 10 13 17 28 56
4 Kansas State 149 22 29 30 31 37 39 45
5 Arkansas State 154 1 24 34 43 52 67 128
6 Toledo 174 2 11 32 48 81 106
7 Colorado 187 9 12 23 69 74
8 California 191 15 35 42 44 55 129
9 Kansas 267 38 46 53 64 66 73 76
10 Richmond 284 6 54 57 82 85 88 118
11 UC Davis 302 19 60 61 78 84 111
12 Florida 357 36 72 79 83 87 115
13 Florida Gulf Coast 374 27 59 91 96 101 113
14 Stetson 394 20 62 95 98 119 158 163
15 Ole Miss 399 49 58 71 104 117
16 North Florida 400 50 63 68 94 125
17 Arizona 408 40 70 77 89 132 148
18 Elon 494 47 75 116 126 130 175
19 Northern Kentucky 527 25 86 122 145 149 168 173
20 Louisiana Tech 547 51 102 107 143 144 170 171
21 Daytona State College 550 26 97 131 142 154 162 167
22 South Florida 559 90 92 108 123 146 174 176
23 Charleston Southern 563 80 110 114 121 138 152 164
24 Morehead State 621 100 105 137 139 140 141 157
25 Fiu 632 103 109 133 136 151 161 166
26 Rice 655 93 120 135 147 160
27 Troy 729 124 127 134 165 179 186
28 Lake Sumter State College 814 150 155 159 169 181 183 192
29 Florida Atlantic 828 112 172 178 182 184 187
30 Tallahassee CC 831 99 177 180 185 190
31 Mobile 877 153 156 188 189 191

Top Individual Finishers - Open Race
1 Lexington Hilton SO Arkansas State 23:52.3 1
2 Mathew Chesum SO Toledo 24:17.8 2
3 Garrett Marsing JR Byu 24:18.6 3
4 Caleb Easton FR Northern Arizona 24:20.0 4
5 Kang Nyoak FR Northern Arizona 24:22.1 5

Toledo Individual Results - Open Race
2 Mathew Chesum SO Toledo 24:17.8 2
11 Jacob Harris SO Toledo 24:26.5 11
37 Jake Rethman SO Toledo 25:04.5 32
59 Benjamin Otis SO Toledo 25:32.4 48
105 Jonathon Hrivnak SO Toledo 26:08.8 81
144 Kassim Kibet SO Toledo 26:37.3 106