The Baker University cross country team returned happily from Emporia State University last weekend as both the men’s and women’s teams ran their best races of the season.
The Baker women placed sixth out of 18 teams and the men brought home a third-place finish in a pool of 14 teams. The ESU Jock’s Nitch invitational was made up of schools from the NCAA Division II, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and junior college levels.
Senior Amber Keith said the team has made huge improvements from previous competitions.
“I was really impressed with how both the guys and girls did,” Keith said. “For not racing for three weeks, I thought we did really good, and I was really happy with everybody’s performance.”
Besides team success from the ‘Cats, several individuals achieved strong results at the meet. Keith was the top performer for the women, placing 25th out of 131 runners. Sophomore Mary Loveland followed just behind, placing 33rd, and senior Ari Penner placed 40th overall.
“I’m really happy,” Keith said of her personal and the team’s performance. “It was our first 5K. I think we have a lot to look forward to in the next races. I think we are all ready to race at a higher potential now.”
With every runner posting his personal best time, the men’s team found the record books. Junior Arnold Sirorei led the Wildcats with an eighth- place finish, registering the fourth fastest 8K in Baker history. Accompanying Sirorei was sophomore Chris Scheideman, who placed 15th and moved on to Baker’s all-time fastest sophomore list. Scheideman cut two and a half minutes off his time from last year.
“I was very happy with how I finished,” he said. “I was ecstatic with how I ran. Finally, the hard work is paying off.”
In their first meet of the year, freshmen Ezra Bett and Brian Hageman etched their names into the Baker record book registering two of the top five all-time fastest freshmen marks. Bett finished 25th in the meet and Hageman finished 36th. Sophomore Justin Hill cut off nearly three minutes from his time last year and finished 48th.
Hageman said he was excited with his personal finish and impressed with the team’s performance.
“I think we did really well,” he said. “Our team did great, and I think everyone was right where they wanted to be. Overall, it was a very successful meet for us.”
Similarly, Scheideman said he was pleased with the team’s effort and performance at the meet.
“It was a fantastic meet for everybody on the team,” he said. “Everyone ran amazing, and it was huge for Baker University cross country in general.”
The ‘Cats have the weekend off and will spend time training for their next competition at the University of Arkansas for the Chile Pepper Festival Oct. 18.