JOPLIN, MO – The men's and women's cross country teams were back in action early Saturday morning as they took on the Missouri Southern Stampede in Joplin, Mo. The race was hosted by Missouri Southern and was an 8K race for the men and a 5K race for the women.
On the women's side of the event, the Patriots came away with a team placement score of 672 to finish just behind conference foe UAFS who placed 23
rd.
Leading the way for the women was redshirt junior
Natasha Carcano. She placed 95
th in team placement with a time of 19:12.2 and an average mile time of 6:10.5.
This set the tone for the Patriot women as they came away from the event with three new personal best times in the 5K distance. Carcano, freshman
Calista Segura, and redshirt junior
Tiffany Vargas all set new personal bests.
Crossing the line just a few seconds behind Carcano was Segura. She placed 107
th in team placement with a time of 19:27.4 and an average mile time of 6:15.4.
Rounding out the scoring for the Patriots women's program was redshirt sophomore
Shelby John, Vargas, and redshirt sophomore
Nicolette Esparza.
John came in with a time of 20:20.4 to finish 144
th in team placement, and just behind her was Vargas with a time of 20:50.1. Rounding out the scoring for the Patriots was Esparza with a time of 22:37.3 and a team placement of 172
nd.
On the men's side of the competition it was redshirt freshman
Angel Contreras leading the men's program with a 27
th place finish. Contreras ran the 8K event in a time of 25:35.1 and an average mile of 5:08.9.
The Patriots finished the event with a team placement score of 416 to finish just ahead of conference rival Texas A&M-Commerce who ended their event with a 468 team placement score.
Following Contreras in the timing was the duo of redshirt freshman
Seth Andrade and redshirt sophomore
Landon Thornton. The pair finished just 12.3 seconds apart as Andrade ran a 26:43.7 and Thornton came home with a 26:56.
Rounding out the team placement for the Patriots was redshirt freshman
Kalen Barlow and redshirt senior
Matthew Cecotti. Barlow ran the 8K in a time of 27:49.7 and Cecotti finished up with a time of 28:52.9.
The complete list of Patriot finishers can be found below.
Next up for both programs will be the Chili Pepper Invitational on Oct. 1
st in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
