FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Southwestern Pirates amped up the
competition and therefore their times as they took on numerous DI
schools at the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival on Saturday
morning. Both the men and women posted either personal best or
season best times in the uncommon competition distance of 10K for
the men and 6K for the women.
As a team the men finished in 24th place out of 29 teams and put up
impressive times at their usual five mile distance and finished
strong at the longer 6.2 mile race.
Junior Allen Smith led the way for SU with a 33:16.80 time for
146th place out of 239 runners. First-years Sam Martinez and Thomas
Bobbitt were close behind in 150th and 151st places with times of
33:20.67 and 33:20.82, respectively.
Junior Dan Rudd was the fourth Pirates finisher and came in 152nd
place overall in a time of 33:23.5. Sophomore Zach Freeland rounded
out the top five for Southwestern with a time of 34:28.49 for 197th
place.
Also competing for the Pirate men were senior Josh Gideon, junior
Sebastian Winkler and sophomore Sam Marsh. Gideon finished in
36:22.90, Winkler in 36:23.99 and Marsh in 41:10.21.
On the women’s side, every runner finished in a season best
time while first-years Laura Wooden and Christina Hadly posted
personal records during the race.
Senior Tami Warner set the pace for the Pirates, coming in first
for SU and 176th overall out of 268 runners in a time of
24:09.8.
Hadly finished second for Southwestern and 222nd overall, coming in
with a time of 25:50.83. Wooden’s time of 28:19.56 earned her
the third best finish for the Pirates and 257th overall.
Junior’s Ursula James and Lili McEntire rounded out the top
five for SU running in times of 28:33.10 and 29:31.66,
respectively.
“This was stiffer competition than we are used to,”
state Coach Francie Larrieu Smith, “but it was a great day to
run and I feel we ran extremely well.”
Southwestern will use the momentum and solid times from this race
as they head to the SCAC Championships on October 31st hosted by
Oglethorpe University in Conyers, GA.