COTTONWOOD, Calif. – Racing alongside Southern Oregon and Simpson, Oregon Tech opened the 2026 season with a second-place effort at the Simpson Invite at West Valley High.
 
The race was plagued by difficulties with the 8,000-meter course, as the front-runners missed a turn and ran an extra 800-meters – bunching the entire field together.
 
Tech scored 43 team points, behind SOU (20) while easily topping Simpson (69).
 
Kai Miles withstood the wrong turn on the to placed third overall (29:23), with Ethan Kreiger in seventh (30:04). Daxton Wilson (30:30), Blake Franke (30:33) was 12th and Lucas Goodrich took 14th (30:38).
 
Tech returns to the course next Saturday at the Jim Hunt Invitational at Cal Poly Humboldt.