The cool breeze and pleasant weather was a huge factor in the Baker University cross country teams’ performances Friday at the Friends Invitational meet, head coach Rob Mallinder said.
“Everyone ran well. The first thing we should realize was the weather for running was especially nice,” Mallinder said. “Last year when we had this meet, it was 95 degrees and high humidity.”
The men’s team finished fourth out of eight teams, with its top runner for the meet, sophomore Donnie Gardner, finishing third with a time of 27:03.
“We had no athletes last year break 29 (minutes), and this year we had our top four athletes break 29, so we’re definitely moving in the right direction,” Mallinder said.
Mallinder said this is the first time he has had an athlete on the men’s side break into the top three during a race.
“From looking through results and comparing them to the rest of the conference, our guy’s team will be knocking on the door with placing in the top three in our conference,” he said.
Finishing behind Gardner in 19th place were sophomore Scott Chaney with a time of 28:11 and sophomore Alex Dingman in 29th with a time of 28:50.
“For the type of training we’re doing right now, this is very encouraging,” Mallinder said. “We shouldn’t be doing as well as we are this early in the season, so I have to step back and look at maybe it’s the weather because it hasn’t been exceptionally hot and humid, but at the same time, I think we’re just running really well.”The women did not compete for a team score, but sophomores Amber Keith and Shawnee Barron represented Baker in the race.
Keith bested her personal record by finishing with a time of 21:06. She came in 13th with Barron trailing her in 42nd place after a time of 22:53.
“We’ve been training pretty hard these past two weeks, and it gives us more confidence knowing we’ve been working hard,” Keith said. “The weather was also a factor because it was perfect running weather. It was a perfect course, and the teams weren’t intimidating.”
Mallinder said he hopes to have the rest of the women’s team entered in Emporia State University’s Jock’s Nitch Invitational on Sept. 29.
Keith said the women’s team is motivated by how well the men’s team has been doing and hopes that will motivate her teammates when returning to compete.
“I think everyone wants to be really good this year,” Keith said. “Everyone’s trying hard. The girl’s team is working as hard as we always do, but we’re done being freshmen and are all more serious about it.”