Colonel cross country men set new personal records while the women placed sixth with three Colonels in the top-25 in Saturday’s 2009 Southland Conference Cross Country Championships held in Corpus Christi, Texas.The six-man team, half of which are freshmen, recorded new personal best times.
“Every single guy PR’ed at the conference meet, which is the perfect time to do it,” head cross country coach Matthew Esche said. “Everybody did a good job and ran tough.”
Four Colonel runners finished within 31 seconds of each other. Leading the pack was freshman Jordan Reed with a time of 28:19, followed by a 28:37 time by sophomore Tyler Folse.
Finishing within two seconds of each other were junior Joseph Fryou with a time of 28:48 and freshman Ross Mullooly with 28:50.
The Colonels showed their heart and determination when sophomore Justin Babin ran with a time of 29:38 while recovering from stress fractures in his feet.
Finishing off for the Colonels was freshman Dylan Williams with a time of 31:23.
“We still have a lot of work to do. The guys will take a couple of weeks off before they get back at it training for next year,” Esche said. “This was a good start for them, and they really did a good job establishing a base for themselves. Now we need to improve on that for next year.”
The host team of Texas A&M Corpus Christi pulled off the win for the women on their home turf. However, the Colonels did not fall far behind, capturing a sixth place finish.
Leading the Colonels was junior Lauren Jones, who finished eighth with a time of 21:37.
“Lauren Jones especially ran really well today,” Esche said. “It was a phenomenal run by Lauren to pick off everyone in the pack and lead the way for us. She really earned that all-conference honor today.”
Only 19 seconds separated Jones from her teammate freshman Dakota Goodman, who clocked in with a time of 22:02 en route to a 20th place finish.
Twin sister Brea Goodwin narrowly made it into the top-25 with her 22:05 time, capturing 24th place.
Also competing in the race were junior Kadi Whisnant, 23:24, junior Jessica McLeod, 23:47, senior Imma Kosgei, 24:13, and freshman Skyla Jackson, 25:14.
The sixth place finish for the Colonels is an improvement from last seasons’ 11th place finish and the previous best of eighth in the 2007 Conference Championships.
“The goal of the meet was to be in the top four,” Esche said. “We felt we had a good shot at it today, but you have to give credit to the other teams who ran very well also. To finish tied for sixth with Lamar isn’t the worst thing, considering we were 11th last year and that this is the best finish in school history. If we look at the big picture here, our girls can be proud of what they did.”
The next race for the women will be Nov. 14 when they travel to Baylor to compete in the 2009 South Central Regional Championship.
