CHARLESTON, Ill.—A distinct hometown flavor powered the University of Evansville men’s cross country on Friday at the Eastern Illinois Panther Open, while youth led the way for the UE women at the EIU Cross Country Course in Charleston, Illinois.

 

Three of UE’s top four finishers on the men’s side were Tri-State area natives, led by former Evansville Memorial standout Ryan Witters’ sixth place individual finish. Meanwhile, a pair of freshmen, Lauren Zeabart and Kepra McBrayer, posted top 25 finishes on the women’s side to lead the Purple Aces.

 

Witters continued his strong start to his junior year, posting a time of 26:00.71 to place sixth out of 90 competitors in the men’s 8-K event. Witters’ time fell just four seconds shy of his personal-best 8-K mark and was 30 seconds faster than his mark at last year’s Panther Open, despite a wrong turn which cost him at least 15 seconds.

 

“Ryan ran another great race today,” said UE head coach Don Walters. “He was able to get into a zone tonight, and was just picking off runners left and right, which was great to see.”

 

Former Heritage Hills High School standout Cody Stein, a true freshman at UE, placed second on the team and 22nd overall in his first 8-K race with a time of 26:40.69. Junior Max Cordier raced third for UE with a personal-best 8-K time of 26:47.24, while former Evansville Central star Brian Joyce placed fourth on the team and 27th overall in a time of 26:49.95. Junior Christopher Kipchirchir rounded out UE’s scoring pack in 33rd place with a time of 27:07.90.

 

On the women’s side, Zeabart and McBrayer shined in their first collegiate 5-K event, placing 16th and 19th overall with times of 19:23.88 and 19:32.39 respectively. Senior Courtney Heller also clocked in under 20 minutes for UE with a time of 19:57.31 to place 28th overall, while junior Melissa Truex and senior Arrena Svoboda were not far behind, placing 30th and 31st overall with times of 20:10.76 and 20:12.90 respectively.

 

“Overall, I am extremely pleased with how we ran today on both sides,” said Walters. “I really did not back out on either team this week in practice, and a lot of runners did not fully have their legs underneath them today, but everyone battled and fought through the tiredness. And, that tells me a lot about the character of both teams this year.”

 

Individually, Southern Illinois’ Dan Dunbar took home the men’s overall title with an 8-K time of 25:19.32, while SIU Edwardsville’s Kayla Brown cruised to the women’s 5-K title with a time of 17:44.98. Team-wise, there was no overall team champion, as the meet was scored as a double dual-meet competition. UE posted identical 4-3 records against the other seven teams at the meet on both the men’s and women’s sides.

 

Evansville will return to the course next Friday, as the Purple Aces will travel north to Terre Haute, Indiana to take part in the annual Indiana Intercollegiate Championships. The meet will begin at 2:30 p.m. central time.