A limited squad of runners opens the cross-country season at JK Gold Classic
The nationally ranked Cowley College cross-country teams started their 2024 campaign at the 76th Annual JK Gold Classic held Saturday in Wichita, KS.
The nationally ranked Cowley College cross-country teams started their 2024 campaign at the 76th Annual JK Gold Classic held Saturday in Wichita, KS.
The Lady Tiger cross-country team is coming off a NJCAA Division II national title, while the Tiger men placed seventh at last year's national meet,
Saturday's meet consisted of three NCAA Division I teams and several NCAA Division II schools.
"A couple of our major goals for the weekend was to blow out the summer race rust and see where we are at," Cowley head coach Cameron Rieth said. "We decided not to race more than half of our group for various reasons, whether it be just being cautious with little pains or just wanting to get a little bit more training in before opening up."
On the men's side, Cowley only raced five runners. The group was led by sophomore Miquel Cruz placing 24th in the 6K race with a time of 18:49.2.
"Miquel threw it down, and it was a great opener for him," Rieth said. "We had really solid days out of Kevin Rivas-Guillen (19:51.6), Manuel Leos (20:56), and Deshawn Douglas (20:37.6), who ran almost a minute faster than he did at last year's meet. We had lots of good things to build on. We still have a long way to go for the year, but I am excited to see what everyone can progress down to."
Freshman Conner Walker (21:40.2) rounded out the Tiger runners at the meet.
The Wichita State University men took home the team title, while Colby Community College's Sibonelo Khumalo placed first in the men's race with a time of 17:54.8.
On the women's side, Cowley ran only three runners. Sophomore Lili-Rose Breheret (20:39) was the big surprise of the day, leading the way with her 65th-place finish in the 5K.
"Lili had a massive personal best by about 70 seconds," Rieth said. "She put in a great summer of training and is really coming along. I think she is finally figuring things out by competing and believing in her ability. She ran without fear out there."
Fellow sophomores Savannah Fischer (21:07.7) and Pauline Althoff (21:29.5) rounded out Cowley runners at the meet by placing 82nd and 86th, respectively.
"I think Pauline and Savannah came into the meet a little tired," Rieth said. "They have been training well and will come around. Savannah still ran a 45-second personal best. We have a lot of question marks we need to figure out, but I believe in these girls."
The University of Tulsa was the top women's team as they had the top five runners, including meet champion Chloe Heshenow (17:16.5)