Eagles and Lady Eagles take third at UCO

Photo by: Abby Bellow

 

Mud couldn’t bog down the enthusiasm of Oklahoma Christian University cross-country runners as they completed their season-opener at the University of Central Oklahoma’s “Land Run”.

Battling wind, rain and mud, several Eagles and Lady Eagles placed in the opening race of the cross-country season on September 6.

After a thirty-minute delay due to heavy rains, the Lady Eagles toed the start line and took off at the bang of the starting gun.

Sophomore Layne Hammer led the team with a fifth place finish over the 5,000-meter course, and ran a time of 20:23.68.

The biggest challenge of the race was a 400-meter stretch of mud and deep puddles, Hammer said she relied on her spiked running shoes to help her keep the pace.

“I think spikes helped a lot,” Hammer said. “I tried to stay on the outside of the path because that looked like it was less used but the second time around there was pretty much no hope, and so you just had to tough through it.”

Fellow sophomore Maci Rich followed close behind Hammer with an 11th place finish out of the 70-woman field, and a time of 20:48.26.

Freshman Ainsley Ibison said she enjoyed the mud, even though it slowed her down. Ibison finished her first collegiate race with a time of 20:57.68, which was fast enough for a 13th place finish.

“I loved [the mud],” Ibison said. “Honestly, [even though] it slowed me down, the mud made it really fun. My biggest challenge was not running it like a 2-mile.”

Incoming first year runners had to train in the weeks prior to the opener to transition to longer races than their high school events.

Female high school competitors run 2-mile cross-country races, moving up to 3.1-mile or 5,000-meter races at the collegiate level. Male runners transfer from the 3.1-mile races in high school to an 8,000-meter run.

Sophomore Katie Jones and Freshman Emily Morton finished fourth and fifth for the Lady Eagles, with Jones running a time of 21:45.27 for a 27th place finish, and Morton running a time of 22:28.57 for a 33rd place finish.

Finishing up the course for the Lady Eagles was sophomore Sarah Cobb in 23:40.60 for 46th place, and seniors Maria Sargent, 51st place in 24:13.04 and Tavia Hoheisel, 53rd place in 24:25.46.

The Lady Eagles finished third out of eight teams, despite missing one of their top runners, junior Tara Lewis, due to injury.

For the Eagles, junior Bryant Keirns took a step up from last year’s cross-country season and led the team with a time of 20:38.86 over the 4-mile course for a fifth place finish.

Although the team prepared for the cold and the rain, runners said the mud was a hindrance.

“That [mud] was annoying,” Keirns said. “Everyone slowed down a ton but everyone had to do it so it wasn’t that bad.”

Freshman Sisay Gillock, a Portland, Oregon native,said he was acclimated to the wet conditions.

“It rains a lot in Portland,” Gillock said. “But the courses that I’ve ran in the rain aren’t this bad; they aren’t that muddy, they’re mostly grass or concrete. This is my first 4-mile [race] ever, in high school the 5k was my highest in cross-country. I would like to get under 26 [minutes] on the 8k and basically make it to the [national] championship with the team.”

With a time of 21:24.66, Gillock finished second to Keirns on the Eagles’ team and 14th out of the 61-man field in his first collegiate race.

Close behind Gillock was senior Timothy Zuercher and sophomore Evan Durrill, who worked together for the entirety of the race and placed 19th and 20th with times of 21:45.20 and 21:47.14.

Finishing up the Eagle’s top five was senior Blake Thompson, finishing 29th place with a time of 22:35.44.

Two of Oklahoma Christian’s new runners, freshmen Emory Lobley and Tanner Cate, crossed the finish line of their first collegiate race in 30th and 38th place with times of 22:42.90 and 23:24.83, respectively.

Rounding out the Eagles was senior Riley Compton who finished in 58th place in 27:16.27.

The Eagles finished in third place out of five teams, just behind Oklahoma City University and Cameron University.

Seniors Roberto Diaz and Brennym Kaelin, and Assistant Coach Evan Fike ran unattached to Oklahoma Christian’s Eagles.

The Oklahoma Christian Cross-Country program’s next race is on Sept. 20 at the Missouri Southern State University Southern Stampede in Joplin, Missouri.