The Emporia State men’s and women’s cross country teams finished second and fifth respectively out of seven teams in their only home meet this season, the Planet Sub Invitational at Jones Park last Friday.
The two top finishers for the Hornets were Daniel Claasen, senior, who finished third and Emily Schoenfeld, junior, who finished fifth. Schoenfeld had a personal best time of 18:49.8.
“I thought it was a decent performance both individually and as a team,” Classen said. “There is room for improvement both individually and as a team and we will continue to strive to get better and make these improvements. We are really looking for the whole team to be able to group up and run as a pack.”
The Lady Hornet’s had two finishers in the top 10 and three others in the top 35. Mercy Perez, sophomore, finished tenth. Mallory Kramer, freshman, finished 29th. Audrey Derosiers, freshman, finished 31st and Taylor Stueve, senior, finished 34th.
“The competition level was close to what it should be, but the meets we have coming up will give us an opportunity to run against more teams in the MIAA,” Schoenfeld said. “I think I ran a decent race, but I’m still not competing quite where I should and would love to be. The women’s team is fairly young, so it was exciting to see even more improvement from them on our home course.”
The men’s team also had two top 10 finishers and eight top 35 finishers. Brian Mosier, senior, finished ninth, behind Classen. The other eight finishers in the top 35 were Brian Newkirk, sophomore, 13th, Aaron Taylor, freshman, 19th, Thomas LaRoche, sophomore, 20th, Gabe Sims, senior, 23rd, Cole Bosley, freshman, 27th, James Bowlin, senior, 28th. Gabe Knoll, freshman, 29th and Michael Meadows, freshman, 34th.
“I try to bring as much positivity to the team as I can, it is much easier said than done to put in the effort that we do every day, so it always helps to have people there to pick you up if you are having a rough workout,” Mosier said. “I think that the team as a whole has a much more positive feel than we have had in the past. I try to never cheat myself by slacking off. It not only hurts my performance, but it hurts the team if I don’t do my part. This is the type of mentality that pretty much everyone else has as well. We like everyone to have the attitude that they have what it takes to be a leader for the team no matter who they are.”
The next meet for the Hornets is on Oct. 10, in Victoria Kansas at the FHSU Tiger Open. This will also be the site of the 2015 MIAA Championships.
