JOPLIN, Mo. (Oct. 26, 2019) – The MIAA Cross Country Championship took place this morning in Joplin, Mo. Both the Mules and Jennies competed for the conference crown. The Jennies finished second overall out of 13 teams earning their best team finish since 2005 while the Mules placed third out of 11 teams.
The Jennies ran a 6K and scored 84 total team points. The Jennies total time was 2:40.17 and their average time for the 6K per runner was 22:53.
Risper Mengich was the Jennies top performer placing second overall out of 106 runners completing the course in 21:27.5. The next three scores all finished in the top 20.
Cynthia Togom took 10th place running 22:16.4,
Mariah Elmore took 15th place running 22:30.5 and
Makenzie Stucker finished right behind her in 16th place with a time of 22:38.5.
Kenzie Bergman and
Kimberlee Sewester finished back-to-back in 43rd and 44th place 23:36.3 and 23:39.6.
The Mules ran an 8K and scored 100 points. UCM's total time was 3:00.0 and their average time for the 8K race per runner was 25:42.
Gideon Kipon was the Mules top finisher in 9th place finishing the course in 24:57.0.
Ben Sporleder followed close behind in 10th place with a time of 24:58.4. The next three scorers all placed in the top-50.
Nick Victor finished in 16th place running 25:18.9,
Jared Mentz finished in 23rd place running 25:30.6 and
Alex Kirk finished out the scoring by placing 47th running 26:08.0
Pittsburg State was the overall women's team winner with 78 points. They had two runners in the top-5 including the overall winner Piper Misse, she ran 21:23.9. For the men, Missouri Southern was the overall team champions with a score of 35 points. Southern also had two runners in the top-5 including the overall winner Gideon Kimutai running 23:37.3.
Central Missouri will race again in two weeks at the NCAA Central Region Championship. The race is being held on Saturday, Nov. 9 once again at the Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course hosted by Missouri Southern.
