University of Missouri
Missouri Cross Country Challenge
Tiger Cross Country Tops Kansas For Challenge Titles
9/13/2008 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Sept. 13, 2008
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Missouri cross country squads both repeated as champions of the Missouri Cross Country Challenge at A.L. Gustin Golf Course on Saturday morning in Columbia. The men held off a pesky Kansas Jayhawks squad by eleven points with a score of 22 points in the 8k race while the women also held off Kansas by the same margin, scoring 24 points in the 5k race.
Redshirting Tiger freshman Michael Pandolfo (Lone Tree, Colo.) took first for the men, running unattached, with a time of 26:42.9, while Kansas junior Lauren Bonds took first in the women's race with a time of 18:59.3. Redshirt senior Michael Barrows (Flint, Mich.) placed second among men, first for the Tigers, with a time of 26:55.9. Sophomore Kinsey Farren (Dallas, Texas) placed second among all women, and was the Tigers' first scorer clocking in at 19:07.5.
"This meet was a little different; we weren't running with Dan Hedgecock, our number one from last year, or Tim Cornell, one of our leaders and best guys," Head Coach Jared Wilmes said. "It was a little bit nerve-racking, but some of the younger kids really stepped up, plus one of our oft-injured veterans, Michael Barrows really stepped up big for us so that was kind of exciting."
The rest of Missouri's six finishers were all "younger guys who stepped up and had good races," Wilmes said. Sophomore Phillip King (Columbia, Mo.) finished second for the Tigers - third overall - at 27:07.7. Following King for the Tigers was Dan Quigley (St. Louis, Mo.), who placed fifth overall at 27:11.5. Sophomore Ben Brammeier (Ballwin, Mo.) and freshman Phil Bascio (Florissant, Mo.) rounded out the top five for the Tigers with overall finishes of ninth and eleventh, respectively, and times of 27:27.0 and 27:35.5.
Freshman Stanton Ragland finished sixth for the Tigers, 14th overall, with a time of 27:54.8, while sophomore Kyle Rood rounded out the finishing Tigers by running a 29:21.6 and placing 25th. Senior Garrett Jeffries (Clarskson Valley, Mo.) dropped out a mile away from the finish line.
The Tigers relied heavily on younger runners in the women's 5k too, with the top four finishers comprising of two sophomores and two freshmen. Sophomore Layne Moore (Emporia, Texas) and freshman Laura Roxberg (Overland Park, Kan.) directly followed Farren across the finish line, with times of 19:16.9 and 19:19.1, respectively. Freshman Aimee Bonte (Fenton, Mo.), senior Angela Potrykus (Evergreen, Co.) and junior Emily Baker (Wildwood, Mo.), placed consecutively at seventh, eighth at ninth to round out the Tiger finishers with times of 19:41.9, 19:50.9 and 19:57.1, respectively.
"We knew Kinsey (Farren) would be good, but seeing these two young girls (Layne Moore and Laura Roxberg), as well as (Aimee) Bonte run that good means big things for us as far as this team getting better," Wilmes said.
There also were six high school races: girls and boys freshmen 3200, girls and boys JV 5k and girls and boys Varsity 5k. Lee's Summit West dominated both the boys and girls Varsity 5k race, taking away both team titles and both individual top spots. Kevin Colon ran a 16:17.4 to win the boys 5k while Chelsey Phoebus won the girls' 5k with a 20:01.5.
Mizzou will next split squads on September 27, as the Tiger men will compete in Roy Griak Invitational in Minneapolis, Minn., while the women will compete at Loyola-Chicago's Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational.
-- Spencer Engel
###
Players Mentioned
