Kansas Men’s Cross Country Places 15th, Women’s Team Finishes 32nd at Pre-National Invitational

Friday, October 17

Columbia, Mo.

Men: 10:45 AM | Women: 10:00 AM

University of Kansas

Pre-National Invitational

Lawrence, KS - August 30, 2025 - Emmah Jemutai during Bob Timmons Cross Country Challenge at Rim Rock Farm in Lawrence, KS. Photo by Anaya Boseman/Kansas Athletics

Photo by: Anaya Boseman/Kansas Athletics

Kansas Men’s Cross Country Places 15th, Women’s Team Finishes 32nd at Pre-National Invitational

10/17/2025 5:11:00 PM | Cross Country

Pre National Invitational Men's 8K Results Pre National Invitational Women's 6K Results

COLUMBIA, Mo. — The Kansas Cross Country teams competed against a number of ranked teams in the Pre-National Invitational on Friday, with the men's team placing 15th and the women's team finishing 32nd at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, Mo.

The women competed against 32 regionally ranked teams, including seven top-30 nationally ranked teams, including No. 1 ranked BYU and No. 3 ranked Florida. The Jayhawks beat out three regionally ranked teams (Idaho State, Montana State and Northern Colorado) on their way to 32nd place.

For the men, Kansas beat several regionally ranked teams on its way to 15th place, in a field comprising 27 regionally ranked teams and three top-30 nationally ranked teams. ?

Assistant head coach Michael Whittlesey thought his teams ran well but had potential to finish even better than they did.

"We need to tighten up our back a little bit, our back runners… We had a couple issues in the middle, and we just need to tighten that up…we know how to take care of that for the next race."

The women kicked things off in the morning, with Emmah Jemutai placing 42nd for the Jayhawks. Jemutai led the entire way for Kansas, setting a new personal best 6K time of 20:31.2 and ending as the top finisher for the Jayhawks for the first time this season, after being second in the previous two races.

"Emmah [Jemutai] had a really nice race. It was a good, really good, PR for her and that was really good to see," Whittlesey said.

Kansas' top finisher at the Gans Creek Classic, Kaitlyn Swartz, finished second for the Jayhawks, placing 127th. She was followed by Marisa January (265th) and Naomi Hunter (279th), who both set personal bests. The fifth finisher for Kansas was Mia Murray, who finished in 303rd.

"Kaitlyn [Swartz] had a solid race, and Marisa [January] had a really nice race today, a big PR for her, and a good boost that we needed to have," Whittlesey added.

Freshman Reagan Kibet led the way again for the men, after being the highest finisher at the Gans Creek Classic. Kibet finished in 23:56.3 to place 33rd. Kibet was followed closely by Paul Ngasharr, who had a strong first collegiate race for the Jayhawks. Ngasharr finished in 38th place.

Whittlesey emphasized the importance of having Ngasharr out there after he missed the first two races due to injury.

"It was good to have Paul back racing for us in cross and that's a much needed boost. It was his first race. We learned some things, and he learned some things that we are going to be able to improve on in the next race… knowing that we have him back in the mix is a huge, huge bonus."

Tanner Talley was the third Jayhawk finisher, crossing the line in 42nd place. Quenton Walion finished in 127th and Andrew Schumacher closed strong through the final two kilometers, moving up 27 spots in the final kilometer, to set a new personal best 8K time of 25:01.2 and finish 128th.

Whittlesey was also happy with how Kibet and Talley ran together. "Reagan and Tanner did a great job working together throughout the race."

Kansas women's cross country finished with 868 points, while BYU ran away with the win, scoring an impressive 25 points. ?The men's cross country team finished with 347 points, 30 better than 16th-place San Francisco, while Georgia won with only 119 points.

Kansas will now prepare to host the Big 12 Championships, trying to bring together everything from the previous races.

"One of the biggest things that we're trying to do in the first couple of races is figure out how we put our team together, in terms of who runs with whom and in what paces we want to go out… The team knows that we have more firepower than we've shown and being on our home course and knowing how to run the course, I think that's going to be another added bonus to it," Whittlesey concluded.

UP NEXT:
Kansas will host the Big 12 Championship to wrap up the 2025 regular season. The Big 12 Championship is set to take place on Friday, October 31st, at Rim Rock Farm. More information can be found at the Home Meet Central page at kuathetics.com.