ST. LOUIS, Mo. (March 29, 2019) - Central Missouri Track and Field sent a handful of distance runners to the historic Washington University of Missouri Distance Carnival Friday night in St. Louis.

The Mules had five run in the 5K race while the Jennies had seven. Cynthia Togum was UCM's top finisher placing second and running 17:15.34. That's the third fastest 5K time in school history in just her first career outdoor race.

Amy Marx finished 43rd running 18:23.17 which is four second behind what she ran at this meet last year. The other five were all running in their first outdoor meet at UCM. Claire Myers finished 105th in 19:43.72. Three Jennies then finished within eight places of each other. Sami Skibell was 117th in 20:09.37 and Sam Simpson was 119th in 20:12.13. Emma Bassford took 124th in 20:20.21 and Cate Maynard rounded out the field for UCM taking 139th place in 21:03.11.

For the men, Jared Mentz was UCM's top finisher. He ran 15:49.90 and placed 82nd. That's a personal-best for Mentz running in his first outdoor 5K. Ryan Skopec and Alex Kirk also broke 16 minutes. Skopec ran 15:54.32 to place 91st and Kirk 15:58.15 to place 99th. That's a new personal-best for Skopec as well and the first outdoor meet for Kirk at UCM. 

Alex Philipps and Aaron Westhoff were UCM's final competitors. Philipps ran 16:09.35 and placed 117th while Westhoff was 158th running 16:42.36 both running in their first 5K's on the track.

UCM will also be in action tomorrow afternoon at the Emporia State Relays.