Michelle Sanchez ran her best race of the year beating her personal best by over .45 seconds as she helped lead the Grizzly women's team to a 6th place finish at the Missouri Southern Stampede.
Sanchez and Zadie St. Louis set the pace for the race running with the lead pack staying in the top five at the 1-mile mark. They were followed closely by teammates Shanique Masters and Stephany Lechuga.
Sanchez edged her way up to the fourth spot at the 2-mile mark then continued to push the pace sliding up to second at the 2.5-mile mark. Sanchez would hold that position and finish the Missouri Southern Stampede 5K runner up with a time of 18:37.52.
"She had a heck of a race," said Head Coach Dustin Mettler. "She ran lights out. She beat her personal best by 45 secs. She's not done yet."
Zadie St. Louis had the next best finish for the Grizzlies coming in 18th with a time of 19:48.35. Shanique Masters came in 33rd with a time of 20:17.48 while Stephany Lechuga was on her tail finishing 35th with a final 5K time of 20:22.81. Hilda Kipruto ran a 21:30.85 to finish 59th in the field of 141 runners.
"Zadie did well by breaking 20 minutes in the 5k while Stephany and Shanique both set new personal bests. We ran great. Most of the girls had personal records today. I am very pleased with their performances," said Mettler.
The Men were led by Tarik Xavier who posted a 27:19.23 8K time and 23rd place finish helping the Grizzlies to a 9th place finish out of the 21-team field.
Juan Tovar came across at the 1-mile mark with a good pace at 5:03. He was trailed closely by teammates Tarik Xavier Tim Kimeli who were pacing at 5:11. Maquire Sole, Luis Manqueros and Anton Reeves weren't far behind them at 5:20.
Tovar, Xavier and Kimeli trailed the lead by 29-seconds at the 2-mile mark but were keeping good pace staying in a close pack and working off each other. They kept that grouping until the final mile and a half were Kimeli had to pull out of the race due to an injury.
Xavier took off using a final kick to finish 23rd out of 161 runners posting the highest finish for the Grizzlies. Juan Tovar ran a 27:49.23 to finish the next best in 42nd. Anton Reeves wasn't too far behind finishing 50th running a 28:09.10.
Other Grizzlies were Luis Manqueros 76th (29:21.79), Maquire Sole 86th (29:41.07) and Jaden Dawson 29:55.81
"We ran decent," said Mettler, "but we could've ran better. We're battling with some injuries. Our number two guy had to drop out and that hurt us tremendously. Some of the guys set personal records, and some guys ran their very first 8k ever. We'll bounce back. That being said, we are better this year than we were last year at this time."
The Grizzlies will have a two-week hiatus before their next competition when they travel to Fayetteville, AR on October 5th for the Chili Pepper XC Festival hosted by the University of Arkansas.
