This past weekend the Missouri Southern State Lions cross country teams traveled to Bolivar, Mo. for the Southwest Baptist University Invite. The Lions had a successful outing with the men placing first overall and women placing second.

Men’s Cross Country

The men finished the race with 33 points which was 12 points better than second place Washburn University. Freshman, Gideon Kumatai had a successful first race of his collegiate career by placing second overall with a time of 22:39.88. Other Lions had a successful race, placing inside the top 10, such as junior Cody Berry who placed sixth, and junior Josh Webb who placed seventh. Both ran a time of 23:08.18. Junior, Mike Shanahan, finished right behind them with a time of 23:08.89 to place eighth, and sophomore Nathan Painter finished tenth with a time of 23:16.94. 

Women’s Cross Country

The women also had a successful race being only three points away from taking the first place win over Southwest Baptist University, but blew out the rest of the competition by having a seventeen point lead over third place Drury University, with sophomore, Ashlee Kuykendall placing fourth with a time of 18:56.49. Kellie Henderson and Julianna Determan placed eleventh and thirteenth with their times being 19:25.74 and 19:31.61.  Freshman, Alice Evans also placed nineteenth with a time of 19:47.76.

Up Next

This was the first step for the Lions to grab their first win of the season. Next week, one of Lions’ best runners last year, junior Nickson Kiptoo will return to the lineup after sitting out last weekend’s race. Kiptoo will add another ALL-MIAA runner to the roster, and will be adding on to his already impressive resume’ from last year. Which includes getting second place in last season’s championship. 

The Lions next race will be next week here in Joplin for the Missouri Southern Stampede on September 15, at the Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course. There will be many good cross country squads competing in the event, as Tulsa and Wichita State are just two of the Div. I teams attending the Stampede next Saturday.