This past weekend, on Saturday the 3rd, SNU Cross Country had their first meet of the season at Eldon Lyon Park. The Women’s race started at 9:00 and the Men’s race started at 9:30.
Overall, it was a decent outing from the Crimson Storm. The women started the day off with a 3km race and finished third overall, with Oklahoma Christian University (OC) finishing second, and Oklahoma City University (OCU) finishing first. SNU
Cross Country Veteran and Graduate Student Madalyn Harper finished third overall out of 31 runners with a time of 10:00.03. Right behind her in sixth place was senior Sabbatha Taylor, who finished with a time of 10:13.05. Other Lady Storm runners that finished in the top 20 include freshman Naomi Pearse who finished fourteenth with a time of 11:08.48, sophomore Elora Jones finished who sixteenth with a time of 11:14.14, and senior Lauryn Downs who finished nineteenth with a time of 11:47.95.
On the flip side, the men ran a 6km race with sophomore William Ramirez leading the way with a time of 21:50.56 and an eighteenth place finish. Sophomores David Gamas, Zachary Woods, and Jacob Humphrey were all within the top 30 with times of 22:36.67, 22:38.86, and 23:51.14 respectively.
When asked about their performances, Sophomores Joel Haynes and Matthew Kletke felt they left some on the table.
Haynes states, “I didn’t feel 100% during the race which made me not perform to my best.”
Similarly, Kletke said that he “…could have been a tad more diligent in the off-season with the training.”
With this meet being the first of the season, the only direction to go is up. The runners hope to improve on their times as the season goes on.
Crimson Storm XC’s next meet is September 24th at OSU’s Cowboy Jamboree in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Photo by Leah Hatteberg on Unsplash