Women finish second, men seventh at KWU Cross Country Festival
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

Jolene Mick was the top finisher for the KWU Women

Kansas Wesleyan’s women’s cross country team finished second as a team, while the men finished seventh in the Kansas Wesleyan/Salina Central High School Cross Country Festival on Saturday at Bill Burke and Indian Rock Parks in Salina.

Jolene Mick finished second overall, behind unattached runner Kellyn Johnson, running a 19:05 in less than ideal conditions for running.

“I feel that our top performers award for the week goes to the rest of the team,” KWU coach Zach Kindler said of the women. “Nicole Heptig was not able to finish with an injury, but the rest of the team really picked up the pace and ran very strong for us.”

Ashley Johnson was next for the Coyotes, finishing seventh overall in 21:09, while Ashley Toews and Kara Walker finished 16th (22:10) and 17th (22:15) respectively. Nicole Nicastro was next for the Wesleyan women in 20th at 22:35, and Yeleny Torres came in 24th at 22:52.

“Kara, Nicole, and Yeleny Torres are all running strong right now and will be ready to go for the rest of the season,” Kindler said. “We have some just coming off of injuries and others that need to get healed up and I think that we are going to have a great chance to make a run at Southwestern at the conference championships.”

Mark Winkel led the KWU Men

On the men’s side, Mark Winkel was the top runner for the Coyotes finishing in 29th at 31:10, followed by Gabe Russell in 34th at 31:31. Freshmen Tyler Jensen and Paul Minneman ran well in their first 8K race, finishing 41st (32:09) and 51st (32:49) respectively. Seth Schooley rounded out the KWU runners finishing 67th in 35:36.

“It is a lot of fun to watch our guys run because they are running smart at the beginning of the race and then they push the middle and the finish and pass a lot of guys,” Kindler said. “They are also packing up well together and pushing each other along.  I believe that with three weeks to go, we can defiantly be a top five team at conference.”

The Coyotes run again on Friday at the NAIA Mid-States Classic at Southwestern College. The women run at 4:00 followed by the men around 5:15. This is one of the biggest meets in the area with over 30 schools competing.

-- KWU SI -- 

 

Complete Women's Results

Complete Men's Results