Tiger cross country teams open season at Masterson Twilight
Opening the season Thursday in Hutchinson, KS, the NJCAA Division II defending champion Cowley College men placed third while the Lady Tigers placed eighth at the Terry Masterson Twilight Classic.
The Tiger men placed four runners in the top 30 and were led by sophomore Santiago Nunez (21:04.62), finishing 14th out of 162 runners in the four-mile race.
"Santiago ran a tough race and worked his way up from the back," Cowley head coach Cameron Rieth said.
The only teams to finish ahead of Cowley in the 19-team field were meet winner Northwest Kansas Tech and runner-up Fort Hays State University. Butler Community College's Rodger Rotich won the men's race with a time of 19:11.78.
"It was nice to see some of the other teams in the region and also run on the course that the region meet will be held," Rieth said. "I thought our guys ran tough and smart."
Fellow sophomore Aidan Wells (21:21.29) was not far behind Nunez, finishing in 19th place. Joel Rodriguez (21:29.62) and Goran Duijsters (21:35.07) also placed among the top 30 runners.
"Goran ran a heck of a race," Rieth said.
Muneer Suied also ran well and finished with a time of 21:50.98.
"Muneer ran one of his better races as a Tiger," Rieth said.
Other Tiger runners at the meet were Edgar Reyes (22:20.25), Dylan Roe (22:49.56), Mason Bickle (22:54.36), Aaron Medrano (23:01.69), Jacob Coronado (23:01.90), Basheer Suied (23:25.47), and Jakub Barcik (23:43.23).
"We have to have the mentality that every point matters," Rieth said.
The Lady Tigers were led by sophomore Karissa Glover, placing 24th in the three-mile run with a time of 19:36.28. Freshman Paula Pi-Rodriguez placed 37th with a time of 20:12.69, while Yazmin Reyes (20:33.83) finished 48th.
"Yazmin ran one of her better races in a Cowley uniform," Rieth said. "It was good to break up the race rust. We were not worried about times as much as just going out and competing."
Fort Hays State was the top team finisher at the meet and had the top individual finisher in the women's race as Gretchen Kuffel placed first with a time of 17:39.07.
Other Lady Tigers that competed on Thursday were Andrea Garcia-Gonzalez (21:09.33), Abigail Pinnock (21:25.96), and Layla Ingalls (21:38.05).
"We held out two of our top five runners but still managed to get a good effort," Rieth said.
The Tiger cross country teams will now prepare to compete at the Missouri Southern Stampede Saturday, September 17 at 7 p.m. in Joplin, MO.
"We hope both teams can keep making steady improvements and stay injury-free," Rieth said.
Men's team scores: (1) Northwest Kansas Tech, 48; (2) Fort Hays State, 50; (3) Cowley, 108; (4) Newman, 117; (5) Kansas Wesleyan, 159; (6) Butler, 193; (7) McPherson, 198; (8) Tabor, 212; (9) Cloud, 229; (10) Hutchinson, 258; (11) Northwestern Oklahoma, 297; (12) Neosho, 341; (13) Dodge City, 350; (14) Garden City, 376; (15) Bethel, 411; (16) Bethany, 458; (17) Pratt, 493; (18) Coffeyville, 501; (19) Hesston, 577.
Women's team scores: (1) Fort Hays State, 21; (2) Hutchinson, 85; (3) Tabor, 130; (4) Newman, 144; (5) Dodge City, 151; (6) Cloud County, 178; (7) Central Oklahoma, 195; (8) Cowley, 209; (9) Butler, 222; (10) Garden City, 253; (11) McPherson, 256; (12) Kansas Wesleyan, 259; (13) Northwestern Oklahoma, 363; (14) Neosho, 371.