ELSAH, Ill. - (Oct. 22, 2016) - The first MIAA Championships of the 2016-17 season took place Saturday morning as the cross country championships were underway. Both the Mules and Jennies raced with the Jennies taking sixth place, scoring 146 points and the Mules ninth with 216. The Jennies sixth place finish is their highest since coming in fifth in 2013.
Ian Frazier and
Jana Palmowski were the top finishers for UCM. Frazier was named All-MIAA Honorable Mention for this 17th place finish among the field of 92. Frazier ran a season-best for the 8K race, completing the course in 25:35.88. Palmowski finished in 23rd place for the Jennies out of 91 runners. She finished up the 6K race in 23:06.94.
Four of the Jennies top-five finished in the top-30. After Palmowski,
Nicole Svendsen was three spots behind in 26th place, running 23:14.19.
Courtney Rogers and
Jami Clay finished back-to-back in 29th and 30th place. They each race personal-best 6K times with Rogers crossing the line in 23:26.00 and Clay in 23:31.44. Yesenia Gomez rounded out the UCM top-five. She scored for the Jennies coming in 40th place and running 23:48.04.
Including Frazier, four of the Mules top five finishers set season-best times for an 8K race.
Ty Hughes followed Frazier in 43rd place running 26:09.29.
Justin Howard and
Ben Sporleder finished three places and seven seconds apart. Howard was the third Mule to cross the line in 26:25.12 and 48th place while Sporleder ran a 26:32.36 to finish in 51st place.
Austin Larsen completed the scoring for UCM. He was 63rd in 26:56.66. Larsen led a pack of three straight Mules to cross the line.
Kenny Froebe ran a 26:57.98 and
Isaac Calvert was a second behind in 26:58.47.
Southwest Baptist repeated as team champions on the women's side. They scored 36 points to finish ahead of Pittsburg State and Fort Hays State. Morgan Benesch of Nebraska-Kearney took the individual title, running 21:02.06.
Missouri Southern were the champions on the men's side scoring 42 points. The Lions had the individual champion in Vincent Kiprop who won his second straight individual crown, running 24:17.98. Northwest Missouri and Pittsburg State finished second and third.
