The Butler cross country teams were both victorious at the Ollie Isom Memorial Invitational on Friday at Wartick Ranch.
It was the first time the meet was held since Isom's passing in July. Isom started the cross country program at Butler in 1966 and coached the team until 1983. In 15 years of leading the Grizzly program, Isom coached 15 All-Americans and won the first of Butler's three cross country national championships.
Both the men and women's team won convincingly on the wet course. The men's team scored 25 points, beating runner-up Barton by 27 points.
The Grizzly men had their top five runners scoring all in the top 10, with sophomore Kennedy Chumba and freshman Albert Meier and Nolan Hesse finishing second, third and fourth in points. Barton freshman Sampson Laari was the top men's individual, finishing the 5K race in a time of 15:33.55, just eight seconds ahead of Chumba (15:41.65). Meier (15:54.55) and Hesse (16:38.30) were the other two top 10 finishers for Butler.
In the women's 4K, Butler sophomore Terra Flores took first with a 15:14.11 time. Flores beat out Pratt freshman Grasiela Navarro by over 14 seconds for the win. Sophomores Hayley Ribordy (16:05.34), Janell Kidd (16:06.37) and Lindi Young (16:09.90) all finished within five seconds of each other and placed fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively.
The Grizzly women scored 42 points, while Dodge City and Pratt tied for second place with 56 points each.
Next up for Butler will be the Fort Hays State Tiger Open on Saturday in Victoria, KS. The meet is scheduled for a 9 a.m. start. It will be the Grizzlies' final tuneup before the Region VI cross country meet on Oct. 25 in Colby.
