UE to host conference championships this weekend
Â
The Missouri Valley Conference Cross Country Championships return to Evansville on Saturday as the ten league institutions make their way to Angel Mounds for Saturday’s meet.
Action gets underway on Saturday morning as the men take to the course for their 8K race at 10:30 a.m. before the women run their 5K race at 11:30 a.m. Admission is just $5.
In the Pre-Championship Polls, Bradley was picked to sweep the races. The Braves received five first place votes and a total of 77 points in the men’s race. Indiana State was picked second with three top votes and a total of 66 points. Wichita State took third in the poll.
On the women’s side, the Braves garnered nine out of ten first-place votes for a total of 99 points. Wichita State grabbed the other top vote and was chosen second with 87 points. Illinois State was third with 81.
Evansville is set to run its third home meet of the season. The Purple Aces began the season with the Early Bird Invite in September before running the UE Invitational on October 17. In that meet, Evansville’s women were paced by freshman Sienna Crews. Her 5K time of 18:56.0 was her best collegiate time, besting her previous mark set last time out at Louisville by almost three seconds. She came home in 18th place overall.
Second for UE was senior Elizabeth Kingshott with a final of 19:27. It was her best time of the season and put her 30th in the finishing order. Third across the line for the Aces was Michelle Karp. The sophomore has improved each and every week and set her PR for the fourth week in a row, running a 19:38.4. That topped her 19:52.97, which was Karp’s previous best that she ran two weeks ago in Louisville.
Ross Frondorf led the Aces men with a season-best time of 28:07.3 in the 8K race. He finished in 54th place out of 103 participants. Ben Woolems was next, running a 28:57.6 to come in 64th. Setting a new PR by 27 seconds was Paul Schwartz at 29:04.2. His old time of 29:31.2 was set at the Bradley Intercollegiate. Even more impressive has been his improvement as the season has gone along. His time on Saturday was 5 minutes and 12 seconds better than his first race at Angel Mounds in September.
