• Men's 8-K Results
• Women's 5-K Results
CARY, N.C.--Running against a field which included nationally-ranked Duke and regionally-ranked foes, the University of Evansville men’s cross country team placed fifth at the Great American Cross Country Festival in Cary, North Carolina.
Setting new personal-best times was the name of the game for the Purple Aces on Friday, as seven different male and female competitors for Evansville set new standards in both the men’s 8-K and women’s 5-K races. The new personal-best times propelled the UE men to a fifth-place finish, while the women came in sixth in the 14-team field.
“Both teams ran extremely well today,” said UE head coach
Don Walters. “The pace was extremely quick, but both teams responded with their best race of the season so far. This is a great way to begin our final stretch run towards the conference meet, and hopefully, we will be able to build off of this momentum again in two weeks at our home meet on October 17.”
On the men’s side, junior
Ryan Witters (Evansville, Ind./Memorial) once again set the pace for the Purple Aces, posting a personal-best 8-K time of 25:25 to place 26th out of 125 competitors. Junior
Christopher Kipchirchir (Eldoret, Kenya) followed with his best race as an Ace, placing 35th in a season-best 8-K time of 25:55. Senior
Brian Joyce (Evansville, Ind./Central) also cracked the 26-minute barrier in the 8-K with a time of 25:58, while junior
Nicholas Tyree (Mitchell, Ind./Mitchell) and freshman
Cody Stein (Evanston, Ind./Heritage Hills) both posted career-best times of 26:14 and 26:25 to round out UE’s scoring pack.
On the women’s side, freshman
Lauren Zeabart (Fort Branch, Ind./Gibson Southern) led UE for the second-straight week, and the third time this season with a 5-K time of 19:29 to place 35th out of 119 runners. Seniors
Arrena Svoboda (Katy, Texas/Cinco Ranch) and
Courtney Heller (Montgomery, Ind./Barr-Reeve) were not far behind, placing 40th and 41st overall in times of 19:40 and 19:41, while freshman
Kepra McBrayer (Albuquerque, N.M./Highland) and redshirt freshman
Shelby Cron (Evansville, Ind./Memorial) rounded out UE’s scoring pack in 48th and 50th place, respectively.
On the men’s side, Maryland’s Alex Lundy sprinted to the individual title in an 8-K time of 23:52, while No. 27 Duke held off Maryland for the overall team title. On the women’s side, Kristin Reed of Maryland posted a 5-K time of 17:47 to win the women’s overall title to help the Terrapins to the team title.
Evansville will now take a week off to train, before returning to the course in two weeks to host the eighth-annual University of Evansville Cross Country Invitational at the UE Cross Country Course, located at 20404 Barton Road in Evansville.
