Cross country runners were met with a hilly course and finished with overall disappointment after their meet last weekend.
The team hit the road Friday to Lincoln, Neb., to compete in the Woody Greeno Invitational hosted by Nebraska Wesleyan University and the University of Nebraska. The men competed against 31 teams, including five Division I teams, while sophomores Amber Keith and Shawnee Barron competed individually against 325 runners as the only women’s team representatives.
The one-to-five gap, which is the time between the No. 1 runner and the No. 5 runner on the team, increased more than 50 percent in this meet, compared to the Friends Invitational meet the previous weekend, coach Rob Mallinder said.
Sophomore Donnie Gardner finished in 117th place with a time of 29:01.65, while the last member to count toward the team score, sophomore Zac Towns, finished with a time of 33:24.65.
“I was really happy with last week’s performance, but this week was a 180 (degree turn),” Mallinder said. “With the exception of (sophomore) Alex Dingman, I think we ran awful.”
Mallinder said on average, the runners on the team ran two minutes slower than the meet before, but one minute was all that separated Dingman’s times.
Tougher course conditions were a factor, Mallinder said.
“The first reason was it was very windy,” he said. “But everyone had to contend with these conditions. The course was more challenging (than at Friends), but not significantly more difficult.”
Keith said she thought the week leading up to the meet was the biggest factor.
“Workouts have been really hard, and our legs were really tired,” Keith said. “I think that was the main factor. We haven’t run any courses that hilly, but I don’t think the course or the weather had anything to do with how we ran.”
Workouts at the beginning of the week are designed to push the runners, but workouts on Thursdays and Fridays are a cool-down, said Dingman.
“It was a tough week, but Wednesday was the last hard day,” he said. “Thursday was a recovery for the Wednesday workout.”
Dingman and Keith each said they understand the need for hard workouts.
“We’re working hard for conference,” Keith said.
The men’s division comprised 383 runners, which Dingman said affected the times.
“Everybody funnels at the beginning, and it was such a big group, you had to run the speed of the person in front of you,” he said.
Mallinder said he likes to stay positive and is already looking toward the teams’ next meet Sept. 29 in Emporia.