GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Missouri Baptist University men's and women's cross country teams wrapped up their regular season on Saturday at the NAIA Great Lakes Challenge, hosted by Aquinas College at Riverside Park. The event featured many of the nation's top NAIA programs in one of the largest regular-season meets of the year.
MBU had 24 total athletes compete up north, with 13 of them logging new personal records.
On the men's side, Missouri Baptist competed in the Maroon Division 8k race, led by junior
Phillip Kackley, who clocked
25:46.3 seconds to place
89th overall in a field that included more than 200 runners.
Brandon Etheridge followed close behind in
93rd with a time of
25:48.7, while
Clayton Schneider finished in
113th at
25:57.1.
Nick Fehr crossed the line in
25:58.1 to give the Spartans four runners under 26 minutes.
Grant Patten,
Wyatt Claiborne, and
Ian Moore completed the lineup with respective times of
25:58.70,
27:23.0, and 27:45.8.
The Missouri Baptist women also raced in the Maroon Division 5k competition.
Julia Whorton and
Adrienne Rockette paced the Spartans with times of 19.09.6 and
19:14.1, finishing
75th and 81st, respectively, in a field of more than 180 runners.
Alyssa Collins followed in
20:26.4, with
Camrin Watkins close behind at
20:29.5.
Allie England and
Noelle Reed finished in
20:39.1 and
20:58.9. Rounding out the field for MBU were
Haley Hernandez (19:42.20),
Lindsey Mueller (20:52.70),
Mattie Noyes (20:56.70), and
Lily Harris (20:02.4).
The Spartans will turn their focus to the
Heart of America Athletic Conference Championships on
Saturday, Nov. 8, where both teams will look to contend for top conference finishes in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
