• Men's 8-K Results Overall (PDF)
• Men's 8-K Results Overall (HTML)
• Men's 8-K Results By Division (PDF)
• Men's 8-K Results By Division (HTML)
• Women's 5-K Results Overall (PDF)
• Women's 5-K Results Overall (HTML)
• Women's 5-K Results By Division (PDF)
• Women's 5-K Results By Division (HTML)
Spurred by an individual title by Matt Schiffbauer, the Marshall University men’s cross country team won a hotly-contested men’s 8-K team title on Saturday at the 2009 University of Evansville Cross Country Invitational, while the Murray State women raced to the team title in the women’s 5-K meet at the UE Cross Country Course in Evansville.
Marshall won the overall men’s team title in a race which saw the top five teams place within 22 points of one another, while Murray State held off a hard-charging Eastern Illinois squad by nine points to take home the women’s team title. The host Purple Aces of Evansville placed fifth as a team on both the men’s and women’s sides in a field of 17 teams.
“Overall, I was very pleased with how both teams ran today, especially given the muddy, windy and cold conditions,” said UE head coach Don Walters. “Both teams came into the meet mentally prepared for a tough race, and that mental preparation showed in the results.
“On the men’s side, we were right there, as it was a tight battle for the first five places. If we made one more move here or there, we could have easily been higher in the standings, but overall, I was really pleased with how the men ran. And, the women too. The women really showed me something today, as across the board, each runner came through in tough conditions. Hopefully, we’ll be able to run like this in two weeks at the conference meet.”
For the UE men, junior Ryan Witters (Evansville, Ind./Memorial) continued his strong 2009 campaign by placing fourth out of 151 runners in an 8-K time of 26:23.39. Senior Brian Joyce (Evansville, Ind./Central) was not far behind, placing 11th overall in a time of 26:54.85, while freshman Cody Stein (Evanston, Ind./Heritage Hills) raced third for UE and 26th overall with a time of 27:18.73. Junior Christopher Kipchirchir (Eldoret, Kenya) and senior Steven Matthews (Evansville, Ind./North) rounded out UE’s scoring pack in 29th (27:32.19) and 39th (27:42.59) place respectively.
On the women’s side, freshman Lauren Zeabart (Fort Branch, Ind./Gibson Southern) paced the Purple Aces for the third meet in a row by placing 19th overall in a 5-K time of 20:03.29. Senior Courtney Heller (Montgomery, Ind./Barr-Reeve) was hot on her heels, finishing less than two seconds and two places back in 21st place with a time of 20:04.72. Senior Arrena Svoboda (Katy, Texas/Cinco Ranch) placed 24th overall with a time of 20:17.70 for UE, while freshman Kepra McBrayer (Albuquerque, N.M./Highland) and redshirt freshman Shelby Cron (Newburgh, Ind./Memorial) rounded out UE’s top five.
Schiffbauer won the individual men’s title in a time of 25:33.89 to lead Marshall to the overall title, while Belmont’s Brittany Thune overcame wet and muddy conditions to run away with the women’s 5-K title in a time of 17:54.60, nearly a minute faster than the rest of the field.
Evansville will now take a week off from competition before returning to the course next on Saturday, October 31, as UE will travel to Peoria, Illinois to take part in the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Cross Country Championships.
