By: Taylor Browne/GCU Staff
For some, it was about improvement from last year’s race. For many other Lopes, it was their first-ever race at this scale.
The Grand Canyon University Running Club ran their first race of the season at the 43rd Annual 3TV Phoenix 10K and Half Marathon Sunday through downtown Phoenix, with several Lopes’ runners exceeding their expectations.
“They did really good,” Lopes Head Coach Kim Sims said. “Everyone is coming out and following the program and training. Some of them ran their first races ever. A lot of them either reached or beat their goals.”
The Lopes’ Jackson Riedeman and Caleb Anderson ran and finished a half marathon (13.1 miles) with impressive times. Anderson reached his goal of reaching the tape in under 90 minutes with a time at 1:26:16, placing him fifth in his age group (Male 20-24).
Reideman finished with an impressive time at 1:27:11, winning his age group (Male 16-19), and placing 27th out of 833 runners overall.
“It was my first half marathon, and I didn’t know I did as well as I did until Coach told me,” said Reideman. “I ran a lot of 5k’s in high school, wanted to try something new, and had a lot of fun.”
Lopes freshman Faith Blackburn ran her first-ever 10k road race, placing second in her age group (Female 16-19), and 76th out of all 976 runners with a time of 45:37.
Sims herself also participated in the race alongside her runners, placing second in the 10K out of 73 in her age group (Female 45-49), and placing 172nd out of 976 runners with a time of 52:02. Sims also crossed the finish line two seconds in front of ASU Hall of Fame runner Maria Trujillo.
All of the Lopes who participated in the 5k race placed sixth place or higher. Lopes Jenna Miller placed second in her age group with an incredible time of 20:47.
“It was a really fun race, and there was a lot of people who were excited to run,” Miller said. “The atmosphere was the best part of it. It was cool being able to be with my team in the morning, warming up, and wearing GCU gear to represent.”
Race results
| NAME | RACE | AGE GROUP | PLACE | TIME | NOTES |
| Jackson Riedeman | Half-Marathon | 16-19 | 1st | 1:27:11 | won age group |
| Caleb Anderson | Half-Marathon | 20-24 | 5th | 1:26:16 | 25th overall |
| James Magnuson | Half-Marathon | 25-29 | 10th | 1:45:58 | 129th overall |
| Faith Blackburn | 10k | 16-19 | 2nd | 45:37 | 76th overall |
| Coach Kim Sims | 10k | 45-49 | 2nd | 52:02 | 172nd overall |
| Ryan McQuillan | 5k | 16-19 | 4th | 17:23 | 11th overall |
| Eric Cortes | 5k | 16-19 | 5th | 17:47 | 12th overall |
| Kyle Penner | 5k | 16-19 | 6th | 18:16 | 14th overall |
| Jenna Miller | 5k | 16-19 | 2nd | 20:47 | 33rd overall |
| Alyssa Duncan | 5k | 16-19 | 3rd | 24:08 | 56th overall |
| Breanna Van Meter | 5k | 16-19 | 4th | 24:49 | 63rd overall |
| Brittany Wagner | 5k | 20-24 | 6th | 32:17 | 175th overall |
The Lopes will run again this weekend at The Color Run in Chandler.
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