JOPLIN, Mo. (Nov. 17, 2018) - Central Missouri Mules and Jennies Cross Country season came to an end this afternoon at the NCAA Central Region Championship in Joplin, Mo. The Mules took a 16th place finish while the Jennies were 24th overall.
For the Mules,
Nick Victor was the top finisher in the 10K race. He was the only Mule to have run in a 10K NCAA race before, doing so last year. Victor completed the course in 57th running 32:15.1, 62 seconds faster than last year's regional race.
Jared Mentz also finished in the top-100 and wasn't far behind Victor in 68th place with a time of 32:25.3.
Ryan Skopec and
Isaac Calvert finished four places apart in 101st and 105th with times of 33:03.7 and 33:10.1, respectively.
Alex Kirk completed the scoring for UCM in 115th place with a time of 33:20.5 and
Aaron Westhoff was the final Mule runner. He ran 35:20.7 for 167th place.
Two Jennies sophomores raced at the regional meet for the second year in a row,
Mariah Elmore and
Kimberlee Sewester. Elmore was UCM's top finisher for the 6K race, running 22:59.7. That's a personal-best 6K time for Elmore, breaking 23 minutes in the 6K for the first time.
A pair of freshmen finished second and third for the Jennies in
Emma Bassford and
Sami Skibell. Bassford wa 133rd running 24:27.3 and Skibell 154th running 24:57.8. Sewester placed just four spots behind Skibell in 158th and ran 25:02.1. Another freshman,
Claire Myers completed the scoring for UCM in 168th place with a time of 25:09.9.
Hannah Rodina and
Maria Wendell rounded out the top-seven with Rodina taking 197th place in 26:01.7 and Wendell crossing the line in 205th place in 26:17.4.
Host school Missouri Southern was the team winner on the men's side, snapping a streak of six straight regional championships for Augustana who finished second. Gidieon Kimutai of the Lions was the individual winner running 29:48.5, 16 seconds ahead of the second place finisher. The University of Mary won the women's title for the third straight year. Pittsburg State finished third and will represent the MIAA at the National Championship meet. University of Mary's Jaiden Schuette and Emily Roberts took first and second place in 20:52.5 and 20:55.8.
