Cross Country Performs Well At NCAA Pre-Nationals
Oct. 15, 2005
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
The University of Kansas men’s cross country team turned in another impressive performance on Saturday at NCAA Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind. The Jayhawks, currently ranked No. 28 in the country, finished fourth overall at the meet. In the process, they beat six teams currently ranked above them, including No. 11 Cal Poly, No. 17 Florida State, No. 18 Ohio State, No. 21 Indiana, No. 22 Dartmouth and No. 23 North Carolina State.
The meet, hosted by Indiana State and held at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course, serves as the preview for the NCAA Championships held at the same course on Nov. 21. The No. 5 Stanford Cardinal won the team competition.
The Jayhawks were led once again by junior Benson Chesang. The defending Big 12 champion finished the 8k race 14th overall in a time of 24:05.2. Sophomore Paul Hefferon finished 29th overall in a time of 24:18.1 while sophomore Colby Wissel had a 52nd place finish in a time of 24:35.0.
“I thought it was a good performance,” commented head coach Stanley Redwine. “It was definitely a total team effort, and we’re pretty excited. Even though the race was deeper this year, we still finished fourth which was an improvement on our 22nd place finish last year. I’d like to thank Coach (Doug) Clark for his help in getting the team ready for this race. We weren’t perfect by any means, but we definitely had a solid performance. In races like these, it comes down to your fourth and fifth place runners, and those guys (Erik Sloan and Tyler Kelly) had a great race for us today.”
On the women’s side, the Jayhawks finished their race fourth overall as well. They were led by sophomore Lisa Morrisey who finished the 6k race 11th overall in a time of 22:26. Junior Dena Seibel had a 19th place finish in a time of 22:46. The Michigan Wolverines finished first overall.
“I thought the women’s team had a great showing today as well,” added Coach Redwine. “It’s hard to compare times to courses, but in this case I think it’s applicable because we ran much better here today than we did last year. I thought it was a really good effort.”
Saturday’s meet also served as the final race before the Big 12 Championships, set for Friday, Oct. 28, in Waco, Texas.
