FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The Yellow Jackets made their first-ever appearance at the Chile Pepper Festival a notable one by placing 16th in what is regarded as one of the premier cross country meets in the country.

The 23rd annual event was expected to attract 80 college teams, 120 high school teams, and up to 4,800 total competitors. Nineteen of the 32 squads in the men's field are NCAA Division I programs.

Evan Thayer finished 82nd out of 288 runners in the 10,000 meter race in 31:33. Clay Watson was 116th in 32:07 and Josiah Bragg was 118th in 32:09.

The rest of CU's first five included Joseph Cathey (130th; 32:17) and Ryan Gustafson (141st; 32:37). Completing the top seven were Joe Niemiec (147th; 32:43) and Jacob Dubie (154th; 32:50).

Oklahoma State won the meet with 25 points and Arkansas was the runner-up with 78. The Yellow Jackets, who totaled 469 points, defeated such schools as LSU, Texas Tech, and Texas Christian.

RESULTS (pdf)