Jayhawks Close Regular Season with 14th and 30th Place Finishes at Pre-National Invitational

Friday, October 16

Terre Haute, Ind.

Women's 6K: 9:00 AM | Men's 8K: 9:40 AM

University of Kansas

Pre-National Invitational

Kansas Results ONLY Full Women's 6K Results Full Men's 8K Results

Photo by: Indiana State Athletics

Jayhawks Close Regular Season with 14th and 30th Place Finishes at Pre-National Invitational

10/16/2026 2:45:00 PM | Cross Country

Kansas Results ONLY Full Results

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — The Jayhawks wrapped up their regular season Friday morning at the Pre-National Invitational, where the men's team placed 14th and the women's team achieved 30th place in Terre Haute, Indiana.

The men were led by freshman Stephen Maroro, who placed 17th in 23:34.2, while Emmah Jemutai was the top Kansas finisher for the women, also placing 17th in 19:50.3.

"Emmah had another really nice race, especially in a bigger field, but on both sides we need to be running more as a team as opposed to individually," Kansas assistant head coach Michael Whittlesey said. " I thought that we had some nice performances with Sawyer, Ryo and Parker all running the plan well as a group, but as a whole we need to be better about executing the plan and trusting our power and fitness to move through that field better initially so we don't get trapped behind lots of bodies in the bigger fields like today. But, Stephen had another really nice race, especially through the first seven kilometers, and we're going to focus on finishing strong because he can compete with the top five that were out there today."

The women's team kicked off the meet in the 6K Blue race, looking to build momentum before the upcoming Big 12 Championship. Through the first third of the race, the team sat in 17th place, with Irine Jepkirui running in 22nd followed by Jemutai in 29th, just two seconds behind her. Freshman Jael Cherotich also held down 70th place for the Jayhawks to round out their top three.

At the four kilometer mark, Jemutai had climbed ten spots and was running in 19th, completing the middle two kilometers in 6:39.0. Across the final two kilometers, she continued to pace Kansas and jumped up two more spots to finish in 17th place, completing the course in 19:50.3. Jepkirui followed her, finishing 46th for the Jayhawks in 20:19.8.

After Jemutai and Jepkirui finished, Cherotich placed 230th alongside Naomi Hunter who finished 235th, and Kaitlyn Swartz rounded out the Jayhawks' top five in 293rd. Freshman Malaika McLeod also placed 316th. As a team, the women finished 30th with 784 points.

For the men in the Blue race, Maroro continued to lead the charge in his second cross country race with the team. At the three kilometer mark, a large group was pushing for the lead, with only 3.3 seconds separating the leader from 50th place, but both Maroro and Barnabas Ndiwa were hanging with the pack in 10th and 53rd, respectively.

Two kilometers later, there was still not much separation, with Maroro running in 15th but only trailing the leader by 0.6 seconds. Additionally, Ndiwa had climbed six spots, up to 47th, and Reagan Kibet, running for the first time this season, had moved up 46 spots.

Across the final three kilometers, the leaders began to space out a bit, but Maroro hung in there and placed 17th with a time of 23:34.2. Ndiwa achieved 34th after moving up 19 places over the final five kilometers, and Kibet 64th after moving up 79 places from the third kilometer mark onwards.

Kansas' fourth runner across was captain Sawyer Schmidt, who similarly found success moving up throughout the race, climbing 72 places. Ryo Higuchi rounded out the Jayhawks' top five in 201st to help the team place 14th overall with 472 points.

Parker Walion also finished 222nd, Sam Trumble achieved 296th place and Blake Wohler finished 307th for the Jayhawks in the Blue race.

In addition to the Blue races, the Jayhawks had athletes compete in the White races. For the women, freshman Madelyn Wallace placed 119th, Mia Murray achieved 142nd, Bethany Druse placed 194th and Sydney Owens was 231st.

Hobbs Campbell finished third overall in the men's White race, Andrew Schumacher took 22nd, Carter Cline achieved 47th, Lenny Njoroge finished in 118th and Ryan Whittlesey placed 126th. The five runners scored 180 points to place sixth as a team.

UP NEXT
Kansas will next be in action on Saturday, Oct. 31, when they travel to Stillwater, Okla. to compete at the Big 12 Championship. More information, including course maps is available on kuathletics.com or by clicking here. A meet preview will be posted closer to the meet date.