Rachel Essner
Contributing Writer
The men’s and women’s cross country teams finished out their regular season on Saturday, Feb. 20, at the Kentucky Indoor Collegiate in Louisville, Kentucky, with a last minute switch to an indoor meet because of weather conditions.
“We have had to make a lot of adjustments this week because of the weather,” said Coach Jordan Wallace. “The team has done a really great job of staying positive and working hard while also improving through it all.”
One Racer Wallace mentioned in particular was junior Emma Creviston, who had a personal record of 18:31.14 and placed second overall. Behind Creviston was fifth-place finisher junior Dani Wright at 18:56.72.
To round out the top five finishers for the Racers, freshman Breanna Day (19:56.24) and sophomores Kristin Dent (20:14.88) and Amirr Evans (20:15.09) finished ninth, 10th and 11th, respectively.
“We asked Amirr, who is usually a mid-distance runner for us, to step up today and run a 5k for the first time as a part of the cross country team,” Wallace said. “She kept a good face and stayed positive and did a really great job with it.”
Junior Sophie Grogan finished 14th overall at 20:39.00 while senior Ashley Zimmerman crossed the line in 16th at 21:48.01.
For the men, senior Caleb Kawasaki led the Racers , finishing in sixth place at 16:19.44, just two seconds faster than sophomore Robert Gibson, who finished at 16:21.71.
Sophomore Ryan Dent (16:28.22), freshman Nathan Quinn (16:30.92), sophomore Benjamin Hall (16:32.25), junior Jordan Higgins (16:45.56) and junior Christian Slone (16:50.76) claimed places nine through 13, respectively.
The 15th and 16th spots were taken by freshman Jarod Willis (17:05.40) and senior Meyer Makemson (17:15.50) while freshman Austin Kirkpatrick rounded up the Racers in 19th at 18:41.99.
“With the OVC meet being a little over a week away, we want to make sure everyone is still in a very positive headspace and is ready for whatever happens,” Wallace said. “I think overall the team is ready physically and mentally so we just have to show up the day of and make sure we’re ready to go.”
The Racers will compete next on Monday, March 1, in Clarksville, Tennessee, for the OVC Championship.
