Obadia Tanui and Tarik Xavier lead Grizzlies to 3rd place finish at Red Devil Duals

Obadia Tanui and Tarik Xavier lead Grizzlies to 3rd place finish at Red Devil Duals
October 5, 2020

The Butler Cross Country teams were back in action Saturday morning in Iola, KS at the Red Devil Duals hosted by Allen Community College.

The men's team finished 3rd overall while the women took 4th place on the weekend. 

"It wasn't a real good weekend for us," commented head coach Dustin Mettler. "Just one of those days where we weren't at our best and it definitely showed."

Obadia Tanui continued to lead the way for the Grizzlies finishing 7th overall in the 68-man field running a 26:39.42 8K race. Tarik Xavier followed closely behind taking 10th place in the 8K race finishing with a time of 27:06.75.

Daniel Birchell and Issa Amfa set a good pace for eachother during the race as they crossed the finish line in the 23rd and 24th positions. Birchell ran a 28:10.70 while Amfa was just seconds behind with a 28:13.17. Luis Manqueros and Juan Tovar paced eachother throughout and came in 37th and 38th place. Manqueros ran a 29:15.06 while Tovar clocked a 29:23.29. Maguire Sole finished 46th running a 30:20.59.

The host school, Allen won the meet with 32 team points and Hutchinson finished in second scoring 53. The Grizzlies took third with a score of 80.

On the women's side, the Grizzlies brought home 4th place behind conference schools Dodge City, Hutchinson and Cowley.

Zadie St. Louis posted another 3rd place finish this year leading the Grizzlies for the third consecutive race with a time of 20:08.85.

"We weren't our best today," said Mettler.

Sylvia Korir came in 14th place in the 51-runner field running a 21:06.40. Stephany Lechuga and Emily Hankins had a good pace throughout, and they finished 19th and 20th. Lechuga ran a 21:32.39 while the freshman Hankins posted a time of 21:47.41. Leyni Gomez ran a 24:31.47 coming in 51st place and Ann Dangha was 46th overall running a 26:14.97.

"We struggled a little bit today and didn't really show what this team has," mentioned Mettler. "We will get back to our training, focus in more and get ready for the Region VI Championship at the end of the month.

Full list of results- HERE

The Grizzlies next meet will be the KJCCC and Region VI Championships on Wednesday, October 28th. Butler is the host of the Region VI meet so the Grizzlies will have another chance to run on their home course. More details on the Region VI Championships coming soon.