Women finish sixth; Grizzlies post new personal bests

September 21, 2020

In just the second meet of the season, the Butler Cross Country teams looked to be in mid-season form at the Muthama-Rogers Invitational hosted by Bethel College Saturday morning.

The men's team took third place overall in the meet while the women posted a sixth-place team finish.

A mapping mistake by the host school turned what was supposed to be an 8K for the men into just a 4-mile race.

"We were expecting to run an 8K today, but something went wrong and it ended up being a 4-mile race," commented head coach Dustin Mettler. "Once we figured it out, we scrambled to tell the guys running to start their finish and kick much earlier because of the shorter course."

Even though the men were not able to post any personal bests due to the short course, it didn't stop them from competing very well.

For the second straight week, Obadi Tanui led the charged on the men's side finishing third place in the meet running a 20:31.60 4-mile. Gudisa Adnow from Fort Scott won the race with a 19:52.33 while Teagan Flanagan of Hutchinson finished second with a time of 19:54.77.

Tarik Xavier came in 13th place out of the 127-runner field with a time of 21:18.59. He was followed closely by freshman teammate Daniel Birchell who finished 15th with a time of 21:23.82.

Freshman Issa Amfa improved from week one taking 30th place running a 21:58.84 finishing inches in front of teammate Juan Tovar who crossed the finish line at 21:58.89. Luis Manqueros finished 45th running a 23:01.75 and Maguire Sole came in 64th, beating half the field with a 24:01.61.

"The men competed really hard today against some of the top teams in the nation," mentioned Mettler. "Even though the course ended up being short, they all competed hard and adapted to the change and made the most of it."

Allen Community College won the meet on the men's side with 56 points while Hutchinson scored 76 finishing second. Butler posted 90 point to take third place out of the 14 teams in attendance.

Although the women finished sixth place in the meet, all six runners beat their times from last week and three posted all-time personal best times in the 5000-meter race.

Zadie St. Louis ran her fastest 5K of her career 19:25.74 taking 10th place in the race.

"It feels great to have a new PR (personal record)," said St. Louis after the race. "I started the race out more aggressively today and that is how I was able to PR."

Sylvia Korir ran a 20:19.14, knocking a minute and seven seconds of her time a week ago. She finished in 25th place out of the 116-runner field. Stephany Lechuga knocked a minute off last weeks' time running a 20:47.26, a new personal best, and coming in 36th place. Freshman Emily Hankins chipped off more than a minute from her last race finishing in 37th place with a 20:58.60.

Leyni Gomez dropped her time a minute and half from the previous week running a 22:29.53 taking 57th place in the meet and Ann Dangha had the biggest improvement from last week running a 24:45.62, an improvement of almost three minutes to take 77th place.

"I am really proud of how the ladies ran today," said Mettler. "They all beat last week's times and three of them had personal bests.

"I want this team to continue to work hard and improve so we are our best come conference and Region time," mentioned Mettler.

The Grizzlies don't have their next meet date set but will add a few more meets prior to the Region VI Championship in late October. The original schedule had meets hosted by NCAA Div. II schools and those have been canceled due to COVID-19.

Muthama-Rogers Invitational Results:

Women:

Zadie St. Louis- 19:25.74

Sylvia Korir- 20:19.14

Stephany Lechuga- 20:47.26

Emily Hankins- 20:58.60

Leyni Gomez- 22:29.53

Ann Dangha- 24:45.62

Men:

Obadia Tanui- 20:31.60

Tarik Xavier- 21:18.29

Daniel Birchell- 21:23.82