EMPORIA, Kan. (Oct. 6, 2018) - Central Missouri Cross Country had to fight through some wind and rain on a sloppy course in Emporia, Kan. Saturday afternoon. The Jennies finished in seventh place out of 11 teams with 170 points while the Mules were ninth out of 13 and scored 208 points.
One reason for racing at Emporia was a chance to see the conference course. The MIAAÂ Championships will be held in Emporia on November 3rd.
For the Jennies,
Mariah Elmore was UCM's top finisher on the 5K course. She took 19th place in 20:11.3. The next two Jennies finished back-to-back in 33rd and 34th place despite an 11-second gap between the two.
Amy Marx ran 20:34.1 and
Sami Skibell crossed the line in 20:45.5.
Hannah Rodina (42nd place, 21:10.2) and
Maria Wendell (50th place, 21:42.2) completed the scoring for the Jennies. The top-seven was rounded out by
Emma Bassford (61st, 21:55.1) and
Claire Myers (66th, 22:10.0).Â
The Mules ran as a pack at the front with their top four all crossing the line together.
Jared Mentz,
Ryan Skopec,
Isaac Calvert and
Alex Philipps took places 40-43 and finished within 0.2 seconds of each other. Mentz was first out of the group in 28:26.9 for the 8K race.
Nathan Manning was the Mules fifth scorer in 62nd place and crossed the line in 29:32.5.
Aaron Westhoff (72nd, 29:58.7) and
Jacob McClung (81st, 30:23.6) round out the top-seven.Â
Southwest Baptist was the winning team on the women's side totaling 20 points and scoring places 2-6. Kailtyn Shoemaker of St. Mary (Kan.) was the overall winner in 18:48.3
The men's race was won by Hutchinson Community College. Andrew Kibet from Hutchinson was also the overall winner, crossing the line in 26:09.3.Â
UCM's final race of the regular season will be at home for the Mule Run, Saturday, Oct. 20. The race will start at 10 a.m. from Mules National Golf Course.Â
