Josh Genet led the UE men while Kelby Jenkins paced the women
Kelby Jenkins and the Aces are looking for success at the MVC Championships
With the momentum gained from the Evansville Invitational two weeks ago, the Purple Aces have their sights set on a bigger prize – the Missouri Valley Conference Championship – this weekend.
Blank Park Golf Course on the south side of Des Moines will play host to the races on Saturday morning. The men take to the course at 10:30 a.m. for their 8K event before the women run their 5K race at 11:30 a.m. It will be a frigid morning as the low in the area on Saturday morning will be 35 with partly cloudy skies.
Kelby Jenkins is amongst the favorites on the women’s side. She is coming off of the best race of her senior career at the Evansville Invitational where she set the program 5K record. Jenkins ran a time of 17:27.27, topping Andrea Sonnenschein’s mark that was set in 2007. Her old record was a 17:30. Jenkins was in front for the majority of the race, winning by a margin of 11 seconds over Lindsey Hinken of Western Kentucky.
In last year’s championship, Jenkins had a solid run, taking fourth place while setting a PR at the time with a 17:38.
Coming home in seventh place two weeks ago was Laurel Wolfe, who ran the first sub-19 minute 5K event of her collegiate career as she ran a time of 18:45.23. Just behind her was junior Nicole Kreuzman, who ran a PR of her own, conquering the course in a time of 19:13.64 to take 13th.
Josh Genet paced the men’s team last season, taking 12th place while running the top 8K time of his career. He finished the race in 24:58 for his best time at UE, a mark that is still the best of his career. In the home race two weeks ago, Genet took second place with a time of 25:39.09. He finished behind winner David Mokone of WKU, who paced the 70 runners with a time of 25:20.86. Genet has been the top male runner for UE in every event this season while recording a top 12 finish in five out of six outings thus far.
Freshman Ross Frondorf set a PR at the Evansville Invitational, finishing in 14th with a time of 26:48.55, topping his previous best by ten seconds. He was followed by Jon Ashby,Ben Woolems and Kyle Wilson. Wilson set a PR with a 27:56.62.
For full information on the event, please visit the MVC Championships site at http://www.mvc-sports.com/cc/news/2013-14/6875/2013-cross-country-championship/.
