It was an unseasonably warm morning at Angel Mounds as the University of Evansville cross country teams held the annual UE Cross Country Invitational on Saturday morning.
Both teams battled a very warm morning to post solid times across the board.
“Some of our runners have been hurting, but we will be okay for conference in two weeks,†UE head coach Don Walters said. “It is very important to have a meet like this at home. With every meet, there are more and more nerves and it was good to shake those out today.â€
UE’s women notched four top-18 finishes on the day, led by Sienna Crews. The junior, who sang the National Anthem to kick the meet off, took 7th place with a 5K time of 19:54.5. Following her was Anna Lowry. Lowry finished the race in 12th out of 56 runners on the strength of a 20:25.8.
Taking 15th place was Ashton Bosler. Her time finished at 20:41.8. Izzy Dawson registered an 18th-place outing with a time of 21:11.9. After her was Lauren Meyer, who took 23rd with a race of 21:42.4.
Lexi Sutherland and Hayley Elliott finished up the times for the ladies. Sutherland recorded a 30th with her 22:58.5 while Elliott was 37th after running a 24:22.1.
For the men, Stanley Chepchieng was the top performer, coming home in 16th place out of 72 runners. Chepchieng set a new PR with an 8K time of 27:33.0, besting his previous best of 27:35.6, which was set at the John McNichols Invite earlier this season. All three of his 8K races in 2017 have been under 27:40.
Next up was Ethan Price, who checked in with a time of 27:52.8 to take 20th. Next up with another PR was Kalen Ochs. Coming home in 23rd, Ochs ran a 28:13.4. That was over 15 seconds under his previous top time, which came last time out at the Greater Louisville Classic.
Fourth for UE was Dawson Hood. He ran a 28:28.9 to take 27th. Following him was Ricky Hendrix, whose 28:29.9 was good for 28th. Tucker Dawson ran his best collegiate time. A 29:30.0 was good for 36th as he was 10 seconds under his previous best. Rounding out the contingent were Timmy Miller (31:12.2) and Aaron Cochran (31:58.0).
