Lady Bluejays take second at McPherson
Men's cross country
team finishes fifth
The Bluejays posted a strong showing Saturday at the McPherson Bulldog Invitational at McPherson's Rolling Acres Golf Course.
Led by a trio of top 15 finishers and six out of the seven runners improving their times from a week ago, the Lady Bluejays came in just five points behind Haskell for the top spot with 64 points.
"I was really pleased with both the women's individual performances and the team accomplishments today," said coach Karol Hunt. "We were able to come in ahead of a couple conference teams that defeated us at the Friends meet last week.
"We are making the progress that we need to and that is encouraging."
In her top finish for the Bluejays, Amber Wiens finished 11th out of 50 in 22:06, 11 seconds ahead of Heidi Schmidt, who took 14th.
Bridgette Stevens rounded out the medal winners with a 15th place time of 22:19.
Tiffany Stevens and Shelby Miller took 26th (23:28), and 27th (23:29), respectively.
Ashley Schmidt was 33rd (23:55) and Rebekkah Lockhart finished 45th (25:57).
The men had a more difficult time as Tabor was fifth out of 10 schools with 118 points.
Hutchinson Community College won the men's division comfortably, beating out runner-up Haskell, 30-57.
Kyle Larson was the lone Bluejay to win his first medal with a 12th place finish of 31:04 in the 8-kilometer course.
Kevin Larson was 22nd out of 61 runners at 31:58.
Turning in his highest team finish at third, Richard Galli edged out teammate Matt Lynam to stay in the top 30 by a slim six seconds.
Lynam took 33rd in 33:03 with Jeff Anenson coming in two spots and 18 seconds behind.
Other competitors were Zac Remboldt (40, 33:58), Brandon Voth (45, 34:24), and Will Higerd (47, 34:59).
"Jeff and Zac did not have their best racing days, but the good thing about a team is that when someone is struggling, other guys step up," Hunt said. "Kyle, Kevin, and Richard did that today."
Tabor hosts the Tabor Invitational Saturday at Marion Reservoir Cottonwood Point with the women starting at 10 a.m. and the men starting 40 minutes later.
Women's Results
11. Wiens, 22:06. 14. H. Schmidt, 22:17. 15. B. Stevens, 22:19. 26. T. Stevens, 23:28. 27. Miller, 23:29. 33. A. Schmidt, 23:55. 43. Lockhart, 25:37.
Men's
12. Kyle Larson, 31:04. 22. Kevin Larson, 31:58. 30. Galli, 32:57. 33. Lynam, 33:03. 35. Anenson, 33:21. 40. Remboldt, 33:58. 45. Voth, 34:24. 47. Higerd, 34:59.
