TERRE HAUTE, Ind.—The University of Evansville men’s cross country team placed its top five runners within 47 seconds of one another, while the women were grouped within 22 seconds on Friday, as the Purple Aces placed seventh and tenth respectively at the annual Indiana Intercollegiate Championships in Terre Haute, Indiana.

 

The UE men placed seventh out of 21 teams, as junior Ryan Witters (Evansville, Ind./Memorial) once again set the pace for the Purple Aces with an 8-K time of 26:32.9 to place 33rd out of 170 competitors in the men’s race. For Witters, it is the third-straight race in which he has set the pace for the Purple Aces.

 

Meanwhile, senior Arrena Svoboda (Katy, Texas/Cinco Ranch) led the UE women to a tenth place finish in the 22-team women’s race with a 5-K time of 20:10.5 to place 58th overall. The UE women would place its scoring pack within 22 seconds of one another, as freshmen Lauren Zeabart (63rd, 20:18.8) and Kepra McBrayer (72nd, 20:28.5), junior Jaclyn Dippel (74th, 20:30.2), and senior Courtney Heller (76th, 20:32.5) to round out UE’s scoring efforts.

 

On the men’s side, UE’s scoring pack consisted of freshman Cody Stein (38th, 26:50.0), juniors Christopher Kipchirchir (46th, 27:02.4) and Max Cordier (56th, 27:20.0), and senior Ethan Merkel (54th, 27:17.2). The 47-second spacing between UE’s first and fifth-place runner is the shortest this season.

 

“We continue to work on tightening the gap between our first and fifth-place runners on both the men’s and women’s side,” said UE head coach Don Walters. “We are doing a better job of running as a pack, but we still do have work to do to get to where we want to be at the end of the year.”

 

Butler’s Rob Mullett won the men’s individual title with an 8-K time of 24:44.6, while Ball State’s Alison Bishel won the individual women’s title with a 5-K time of 17:28.0. Indiana took home both the men’s and women’s team titles.