The University of Evansville men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled north to compete in the John McNichols Invitational at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Indiana.
As a team, the women took fifth place out of five NCAA Division I teams, while the men finished fifth in the five-team DI field.
Sophomore Stanley Chepchieng led the way for the men’s team with a 24th-place finish. The Kabarnet, Kenya native completed the 8 kilometer course in a time of 27:35.6, smashing his PR by 35 seconds. Chepchieng ran amongst the top 10 of the 39-runner field for much of the first two miles of the race before slipping back in the pack.
“That’s what (Stanley) has to do. Where he is going to learn is up there with the big dogs and he did an excellent job today,” said Aces head coach Don Walters.
Just a spot behind Chepchieng was sophomore Ricky Hendrix, who finished 25th and also set a PR in a time of 27:40.4.
A trio of freshman finished 28th, 29th, and 30th as Tyler Freids-Reifsteck, Dawson Hood, and Ethan Price followed each other across the line.
Rounding out the Aces’ men’s team, freshman Kalen Ochs (28:44.4) finished 35th, sophomore Aaron Cochran (30:08.4) finished 37th, sophomore Tucker Dawson (30:39.8) came across in 38th, and freshman Timmy Miller (31:20.1) finished in 39th.
“Everyone that we had out there were either freshmen or sophomores and all of them across the board, for that course and this race today, all did an outstanding job,” said Walters.
For the Aces women’s squad, freshman Anna Lowry paced the Aces’ contingent for the second-straight race. Lowry crossed the finish line in 47th in a time of 20:09.6.
Following Lowry was junior Ashton Bosler in 56th in a time of 20:37.6, freshman Izzy Dawson in 59th with a time of 20:56.2, and freshman Lauren Meyer in 60th in a time of 21:37.7.
Rounding out the Aces’ runners were freshman Lexi Sutherland (22:08.0) in 62nd and junior Hayley Elliot (23:52.4) in 63rd.
“We had two juniors and the rest were all freshman, for what we did today on this course, I’m happy all around,” said Walters on the performance by the women’s team.
