UE Cross Country finishes 11th at MVC Championships

NASHVILLE – The University of Evansville cross country teams both finished in 11^th place at the post-season meet.

Hosted by the Belmont Bruins in Nashville, the Purple Aces competed in the MVC Championships on Friday morning. UE’s women’s team outperformed their pre-championship poll selection finishing 11^th out of 12 teams with four runners setting PRs while the men’s team finished 11 of 11 teams. The women’s side was led by freshman runner Sonja Inzinger (Mautern an der Donau, Austria) with a 38th-place finish while the men’s side was led by freshman Samuel Lea (Wooster, England) with a 59th-place finish.

“Today was a big step in the right direction for the women’s team,” said Head Coach Brook LeCompte following Friday’s race. “What doesn’t show on the results sheet is the adversity this team has faced all year. It was a team of mostly freshmen who dealt with illness for a majority of the season and only got to race as a full team for the first time today. We had some solid performances, but we know there is still plenty of room for improvement. This is the beginning of a team that will continue to move up in the MVC standings over the next handful of years.”

“On the men’s side, they did not race as well as we expected. We lost some of our runners to injury but overall, I think we underperformed today. Cross country is a big adjustment for middle-distance runners on the men’s side. And I think this team still has a lot to learn in regard to long-distance racing. But this is a young team and we will figure it out over time,”.

It was a big morning race for Evansville’s women as four runners set a personal best time for a 6K race. Inzinger finished Friday’s race with a time of 22:24.1, a new PR after setting her first at Angel Mounds two weeks prior. Nicole Prauchner (Neuhofen an der Ybbs, Austria) raced her first 6K and was second for the Aces placing 43^rd with a time of 22:36.3.

Also setting PRs in Nashville were freshman Nayla Martin (Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebec) placing 55^th with a time of 22:55.6 and freshman Shelby Bastin (Versailles, Ind.) with a time of 25:19.0. UE had two other runners place on the women’s side in Sarah Vanderhoof-Dossett (Franklin, Tenn.) finishing 81^st with a time of 24:51.9 and Kyndall Anthis (Pakota, Ind.) placing 82^nd with a time of 25:08.6.

For the men’s team, Samuel Lea finished with a time of 23:37.6, followed by Rafael Rodriguez (Segovia, Spain) placing 62^nd with a time of 27:24.6. Woody Burrell (Ceaderburg, Wis.) was the Aces next finisher in 70^th place with a time of 27:57.8. Rounding out finishes for the men were Owen Cuplin (Hampshire, Ill.) in 73^rd with a time of 28:36.5, Cedrik Flipo (Beloeil, Quebec) in 75^th with a time of 29:07.8 and Tommaso Losma in 76^th with a time of 29:22.3.

Evansville ended its cross country season on Friday morning. UE will take some time to rest before turning their eyes to the indoor track and field season. The Aces will begin the indoor season in mid-January.