Kansas Cross Country Claims Victories at Bob Timmons Classic
Sept. 4, 2010
Bob Timmons Classic Meet Results
Kansas cross country started the 2010 season out strong by claiming victories for the fifth straight year in a row, at the annual Bob Timmons Classic at Rim Rock Farm, Saturday, Sept. 4.
“It was nice to race at home today, I like wearing the Kansas blue color,” freshman Jose Muñoz said. “This is a fun course; we had a lot of fun coming out here and working as a pack.”
Despite the absence of Kansas’ thee top runners on the women’s side (senior Amanda Miller, junior Rebeka Stowe and sophomore Allie Marquis), the women claimed all but one top ten finish against Neosho County Community College, Garden City Community College, Maryville University, Park University and Neosho Community College.
Lawrence native and Lawrence Free State High School graduate, Kyra Kilwein, led the pack for the women and captured first place with a career best 5K time of 18:37.20 Seconds behind Kilwein was sophomore Tessa Turcotte, who also posted a career best 5K time of 18:50.90 to place second overall.
“We had a hometown girl (Kyra Kilwein) win the (women’s) race, which is always nice,” head coach Stanley Redwine said. “It is definitely a team mentality. Coach Whittlesey and I did a great job of coming up with a strategy to help them do the things that they need to do. The idea was to race together in the beginning, and they did a really good job.”
Rounding out the third place position for the women was sophomore Natalie Becker, who clocked a time of 19:33.90 in her first meet competing for the Jayhawks.
“We really tried to run as a group all the way through the race so that we could stick together and help each other out,” Kilwein said.
The men’s team found similar success as the top three runners (juniors Donny Wasinger and Austin Bussing along with senior Nick Caprario) cheered from the sidelines at Rim Rock Farm as the Jayhawk men’s team captured seven of the top ten finishes.
Although KU cross county alum, Paul Hefferon, placed first with an impressive 6K time of 18:31.10, junior Zach Zarda grabbed the No. 2 spot with a time of 19:01.30 to post a career best time as well as shaving 37 seconds off his last year’s finish.
“They (men) did extremely well, Paul Hefferon, the guy who won, is just better than our guys right now,” Redwine said. “He was one of our guys who came back and showed us where we need to be. Everyone else did a great job. We had great leadership up front, and the pack was really close.”
Freshman Josh Munsch had a dominating performance in his first race in the Crimson and Blue. The Hays, Kan. native was the No. 2 KU finisher and placed fourth overall, clocking in at 19:06.50. Muñoz finished a close third for the Jayhawks placing fifth in the meet with a time of 19:06.90.
“As a team we did pretty well,” Zarda said. “We ran together well, especially through the first two miles. We wanted to run 10-minutes through two miles. I was 9:58 and the guys were pretty close behind.”
The Jayhawks had several freshmen turn in solid times in their first collegiate race with more improvements and success in their futures.
The Jayhawks will travel to Columbia, Mo. for the Missouri Cross Country Challenge on Sept. 11 to compete against boarder rivals.
Kansas Post Meet Quotes
Freshman Jose Muñoz
On his first race as a Kansas freshman:
“It was nice, I like wearing this nice blue color. This is a fun course; we had a lot of fun coming out here and working as a pack. It was a very nice feeling to run here today.”
On team effort:
“Our team plan was to just work together, especially for the first two miles. We needed to help each other as the race went on.”
On how the team did:
“I think we did well. We worked as a pack and I think that’s what counts. This helps to evaluate where we are and where we want to be. It’s a good way to start the season.”
On what he could improve on for the next race:
“We can improve on closing the one-through-five positions on the team. We sat three of our top runners out today, if you put them in; I think we will have a good team.”
Junior Zach Zarda
On how the first race of the year went:
“As a team we did pretty well. We ran together well, especially through the first two miles. We wanted to run 10-minutes through two miles. I was 9:58 and the guys were pretty close behind.”
On what they learned from this race moving forward:
“We learned where we are fitness-wise. I don’t want to say we learned where we placed on the team because there is a lot of mixing up that will happen. We are happy with what we did over the summer; it was a success.”
On the nerves going into the first race of the season:
“I was confident with what I did this summer. I knew I could do what I needed to do. It was a smaller meet, so you’re just trying to get the nerves out for the next meet.”
On the hardest part about the race:
“Trying to keep everyone together, trying to keep a consistent pace and not slowing down in the middle was the hardest part. We just wanted to keep pressing the whole time.”
Head Coach Stanley Redwine
On the first race of the season:
“We had a hometown girl (Kyra Kilwein) win the (women’s) race, which is always nice. It is definitely a team mentality. Coach Whittlesey and I did a great job of coming up with a strategy to help them do the things that they need to do. The idea was to race together in the beginning, and they did a really good job.”
On moving forward in the season after this race:
“We will just have to look at the results more and see what mile splits we did well on and which ones we’ll have to improve on. As a team, everyone did extremely well.”
On how the men’s race:
“They (men) did extremely well, Paul Hefferon, the guy who won, is just better than our guys right now. He was one of our guys who came back and showed us where we need to be. Everyone else did a great job. We had great leadership up front, and the pack was really close.”
On Jose Munoz:
“He was great and he is going to be the freshman we need. He’s going to be the guy that leads the team in the future.”
Sophomore Tessa Turcotte
On how the team ran:
“We ran really well together, and that is one of the team goals.”
On what she has learned from the race:
“Working together as a team and having more confidence is really important. We had confidence to go out and lead the race and not hold back. That is something we need to carry with us the whole season.”
On the hardest part of the race:
“The hills are difficult, but it is a lot easier running with someone, having Kyra (Kilwein) with me helped out a lot.”
Sophomore Kyra Kilwein
On how the team ran:
“We really tried to run as a group all the way through the race so that we could stick together and help each other out.”
On what she has learned from the race:
“I think it is mostly just trust in each other. I know now we can depend on each other and work as a team.”
On her fitness level for the race:
“I think it is where we want it to be and especially for where we want it to be on November 22nd, the NCAA Cross Country Championships. I know our team can make it because we have the fitness level and work ethic. I think we’re going to do really well this season.”
