Cross Country travels to MVC Championships

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Teams set to run on Saturday morning

 EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Tomorrow morning, the University of Evansville men’s and women’s cross country teams will participate in the Missouri Valley Conference Championships.

UNI is the host for the event, which will be held at Pheasant Ridge Golf Course in Cedar Falls, Iowa.  First to take the course will be the women for the 5K race before the men run the 8K at 11:30 a.m.

It has been an exciting few weeks for the Purple Aces.  Several runners on both squads had stellar outings at the annual UE Invitational at Angel Mounds.  Four days later, it was announced that men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field would be added to the UE Athletics Department.

At the UE Invitational, the women took to the course first for their 5K race before the men ran their 8K.  Both of the Purple Aces teams came home in second place among Division I teams. Evansville’s duo of Sienna Crews and Hannah Welsh led the way, each coming home in the top five.  Crews ran an 18:25.5 with Welsh five seconds behind.  They took 4th and 5th, respectively.  For Crews, the time was 15 ticks behind her PR, which came earlier this year at the Austin Peay Invitational.  Welsh was 11 second off of her best race.

Setting a PR was Ashton Bosler.  The sophomore came home in 9th place, running a 19:32.9.  It topped her previous time by 13 seconds, which she ran at Austin Peay in September.  Taking fourth on the team and 15th in the running order was Michelle Karp.  Her time of 19:51.7 was her top time of the year by 28 seconds.  Kylie Hasenour rounded out the top five for the Aces, running a 20:50.4 to finish in 29th.

Pacing the men was Ricky Hendrix.  The freshman continued his impressive season, earning a 12th place finish, running a 27:20.0.  That time was just nine seconds off of his PR.  Sophomore Andrew Barrett was second on the squad.  His 28:21.1 was good for 32nd.  The time was the second-fastest of his college career.

Third for the men was Tucker Dawson.  The freshman ran a 28:38.3 to finish in 38th spot.  Aaron Cochran was fourth for UE as his time of 28:48.5 put him in 39th while Stanley Chepchieng made it four freshmen in the top five spots, coming in fifth on the squad with his time of 29:09.7.