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Photo by Sarah MortonContributing Photographer
Daniel Kuhnen, sports management freshman, focuses on keeping good form at the Kansas-Wesleyan Invitational Sept. 30.

Cross country places first in Salina, hosts Mid-States Classic

By: Monica Springer

Posted: 10/12/06

More than 20 teams will be in Winfield Saturday for the NAIA Mid-States Classic at the Veteran's Hospital on Saturday.

"It's a huge meet," said Jim Helmer, head men's and women's cross country coach. "It's turned into one of the biggest and the best, primarily in the NAIA in this part of the country."

Last year, the women's team finished 14 out of 22 teams and the men's team was 19 out of 23 teams.

"We love this course," said Ericka Franklin, biology sophomore. "Hopefully we'll do well, have everyone healthy, and have people we know there. We've been working really hard in practice, and we've been running competitively."

Brae Johnson, biology and psychology senior, agreed with Franklin. "My favorite races are always on our home course and track. You work so hard to be a quality team and with that hard work comes a strong sense of pride when racing at home. This is the best part of the season approaching."

The men's and women's team finished first at the Kansas Wesleyan Invitational in Salina Oct. 7.

"We were pleased to get a double win," said Helmer. "That doesn't happen very often. It doesn't get much better than that."

The men took first with 39 points, Cloud County Community College placed second with 61 points, Allen County Community College took third with 64 points, McPherson College placed fourth with 114 points, and Friends University took fifth with 131 points.

Helmer said a combination of heat, wind, and dust were to blame for slow times, but he also said he believes the course is long and not accurate.

"The very best racers in the race ran a lot slower, about two and a half minutes slower. There was more to it than the tough weather conditions," said Helmer.

Despite the slow times and conditions, the men's team took liked the way they competed, but are always looking to improve. "I didn't think we held it together as well as we could have or should have the last mile, but we hung in there well enough to get a pretty easy win," said Helmer.

"We haven't been able to get all of the key people to run well at the same time. Some ran really well and some struggled," said Helmer. "I told them when they decide to put it together and have everybody run well in the same day we're going to have an outstanding team."

The women's team placed first with 47 points, Kansas Wesleyan took second with 57 points, Tabor College placed third with 78 points, Cloud County Community College took fourth with 101 points, and Sterling College placed fifth with 124 points.

The women beat Kansas Wesleyan, the only conference team to defeat Southwestern this year.

"Kansas Wesleyan is a very good team. They beat us by nine points at our second meet at Friends," said Helmer. "For our ladies to step it up and win over by 10 points over a good team like that they just competed really well."

"It was our goal going into the race and both the boys and girls team came home with first place Saturday," said Johnson. "I was very proud of the way our girl's team ran."

The men's cross country team finished eighth in the Oklahoma State Jamboree on Sept. 30 out of 20 teams. The women finished 11 out of 23 teams.

For the men, Oklahoma Baptist took first with 87 points, Butler County Community College placed second with 89 points, Cowley County took third with 118 points, Wayland Baptist placed fourth with 135 points, and Oklahoma Christian College took fifth with 138 points.

"We were encouraged by our performance," said Helmer. "We definitely ran a lot better than Missouri Southern. We finished in a very respectable place."

For the women, Angelo State and Butler County Community College tied for first with 126 points, Wayland Baptist took third with 130 points, Oklahoma Baptist took first with 143 points, and Cowley County Community College placed fifth with 156 points.

Women's box score

Kansas Wesleyan

3 Ericka Franklin; 20:09 (2). 4 Brae Johnson; 20:39 (3). 6 Audry Anderson; 20:54 (5). 18 Jenny Harrington; 22:33 (17). 21 Dani McCaulley; 22:41 (20). 28 Courtney Ross; 22:59 (27). 50 Leah Rankin; 24:49 (46). 57 Alyssa Carter 26:06. 59 Ame Walter 27:02.

Oklahoma State

15 Ericka Franklin; 19:33 (14). 35 Audry Anderson; 20:10, (32). 73 Brae Johnson; 21:02 (67). 112 Kate Topham 22:08 (96). 116 Jenny Harrington; 22:13 (100). 131 Dani McCaulley; 22:41 (112). 134 Courtney Ross; 22:44(115). 157 Alyssa Carter; 23:38. 170 Leah Rankin 24:47.

Men's box score

Kansas Wesleyan

6 Andrae Harper; 28:30 (3). 8 Andrew Cherry; 29:08 (5). 11 Zach Conroy; 29:36 (8). 15 Jess Eberle; 29:58 (11). 16 Dallas Leonard; 30:10 (12). 17 Daniel Joiner; 30:15 (13). 30 Brandon Smith; 31:13 (23). 32 Aric Cherry; 31:24 (25). 33 Jimmy Bryant; 31:27 (26). 36 Daniel Kuhnen; 31:44. 48 Kegan Radcliff; 21:40.

Oklahoma State

30 Daniel Joiner; 27:19 (30). 34 Zach Conroy; 27:26 (34). 36 Andrae Harper; 27:33 (36). 43 Andrew Cherry; 27:46 (43). 63 Aric Cherry; 28:34 (63). 69 Dallas Leonard 28:47 (65). 70 Brandon Smith; 28:48 (66). 81 Jess Eberle; 29:01. 130 Jimmy Bryant 30:44. 143 John Kapavik, 30:54. 152 Kegan Radcliff 31:24.

Monica Springer is a junior majoring in journalism. She can be reached at monica.springer@sckans.edu.