Sept. 15, 2007
Nashville, Tenn. - The 2007 Missouri Cross Country team continued its fast start to the season at the Vanderbilt Commodore Classic as the women's team took home the title narrowly escaping Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt with a score of 55 points. Freshman Kinsey Farren (Dallas, Texas) took fifth place overall in her first collegiate race and was the first Tiger to cross the finish line, coming in with a time of 18:24.91. The men, running just the freshman class, took third place coming in with 76 points.
"I was really pleased with our overall performance," Head Coach Jared Wilmes said. "The men got third place running just the freshman, it was nice to see us able to compete with our freshman against some pretty good competition."
Aside from Farren, the Tigers got key performances from several runners, including a personal best by sophomore Emily Baker (Wildwood, Mo.). Baker finished 10th overall for the Tigers, the highest finish of her career, clocking in at 18:38.61, a personal best in the 5K. The Tigers also got big performances from seniors Kasey Kimball (Eureka, Mo.) and Carolyn Rauen (Cincinnati, Ohio). Kimball finished in 12th place at 18:40.97, while Rauen finished 16th clocking in at 18:49.11, scoring big points for the Tigers.
Senior Kate Greer (Marshalltown, Iowa), who sat out during the Missouri Cross Country Challenge, finished three spots behind Farren in eighth place registering a time of 18:33.79 in her first race this season. Fresh off her Missouri Cross Country Challenge title, Angela Potrykus (Evergreen, Colo.) placed 15th overall coming in at 18:47.43.
The men had four freshman finish in the top 20 led by Ben Brammeier (Ballwin, Mo.), a transfer from the University of Florida, was the first Tiger to cross the line for the men coming in at ninth place. Finishing right behind Brammeier in 10th place overall was Phillip King (Columbia, Mo.), coming in at 26:00.36 in the 8K race. Rounding out the top four finishers for the Tigers was Kyle Rood (St. Peters, Mo.) and Larry Paul (Marthasville, Mo.). Rood came in 16th with 26:16.31 while Paul finished 17th with 26:18.31 in their collegiate debuts on the cross country circuit. The men finished just nine points behind Georgia Tech for third place.
The Tigers will have two weeks off to prepare for a trip to Minneapolis, Minn. to take part in the Roy Griak Invitational on Sept. 29.