STILLWATER, Okla. — Jack Davidson produced an outstanding performance as the first men's runner in Santa Clara history to race at the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Monday. The redshirt senior, who qualified as an individual, posted a 10k 31:09.9 for 65^th place in the field of 251 runners on a windy day at the Oklahoma State Cross Country Course. 

Davidson's 10k time was fifth-best among the 22 West Coast Conference student-athletes, which included seven runners each from No. 1 BYU, No. 14 Gonzaga and No. 17 Portland. He finished within seven seconds of Gonzaga's Yacine Guermali (55^th – 31:03.0) and four seconds of Portland's Zak Kirk (60^th – 31:06.8), both of whom were the top finishers on their respective teams.

Davidson climbed as high as 29^th at the 3k split, and maintained a spot in the top 40 until just after the 6k split. Monday marked the Colorado native's first official 10k cross country race in 28 months, dating back to the 2018 NCAA West Regional Championships. Davidson, who is the program's second-fastest 10k runner all-time, redshirted in fall 2019 and the fall 2020 season was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Jack had a phenomenal race. It was hands down the best cross country race of his career," head coach Felipe Montoro said. "He went for All-American (top 40) and came really close. It was a brutally hard course and it was very windy. He handled all today's challenges so well.

"The amount of support from the Bronco community was so inspiring. We can't wait to bring more people back to this environment."

BYU's Conner Mantz won the individual title with a 29:26.1 and Northern Arizona placed four runners in the top eight to win its fourth team championship in five seasons.

Stephanie Wilson is the only other Bronco runner to qualify for the national championship meet, which she did in 2009. Wilson won the WCC Championship that year and took 28^th at the national meet to earn All-American honors.

DAVIDSON POSTRACE REACTION

��️ Hear from Jack Davidson following Monday's @NCAA cross country championships!#NCAAXC #StampedeTogether #SCUBroncos pic.twitter.com/8Q9JuWYGbN

— Santa Clara Cross Country/Track & Field (@SCUXCTF) March 16, 2021

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Santa Clara's men's and women's teams are set to continue the outdoor track & field season. Competitions will be added to the schedule page as they are finalized.

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