The Missouri cross-country team placed sixth for men’s and seventh for women’s at the Hawkeye Invitational in Iowa City, Iowa.
Iowa, the home team, won the women’s race, and Iowa State dominated the men’s.
The invitational consisted of a women’s 3K race and a men’s 6K race, which are shorter distances than the team will run at the end of the year. The Tigers are easing into the season with shorter races, and many of the team’s top runners did not compete in Iowa.
Finishing in second-to-last place, the women’s team scored 164 points behind sixth-place Bradley’s 158 points. Junior Valeska Halamicek led the women’s side, placing sixth individually with a time of 10:29.0.
Sophomore Hannah Thomas and junior Bianca Mello placed 17th and 49th respectively to round out the top three female Tigers.
Many Missouri runners at the meet were underclassmen, including freshmen Susan Forbis and Faramola Shonekan, who made their collegiate debuts. This partly explains why the team did not have as strong of a showing, as these runners are still gaining experience.
Senior Drew White was the Mizzou frontrunner on the men’s side, finishing fifth with a time of 18:05.57. The men’s team finished with 166 points behind fifth-place Creighton’s 143 points.
Despite the experience of the men’s team – five of the nine runners were juniors or seniors – only two were able to break into the top 50. Redshirt freshman Michael Widmann finished 25th in his debut for Mizzou.
“Widmann had a great debut after redshirting last season,” coach Marc Burns said in a news release. “His development has been phenomenal from a year ago to today.”
Junior Brian Hernan, sophomore Zach Cook and senior Tyler Schneider crossed the finish line at 51st, 60th and 64th, respectively. Many of the Mizzou runners lagged significantly behind White and Widmann, completing the race at the back of the pack.
“Racing at Iowa gives the team the opportunity to see this year’s Midwest Regional course up close,” Burns said in a pre-meet press release. “We are looking forward to racing the entire team at Vanderbilt on Sept. 17.”
_Edited by Peter Baugh | pbaugh@themaneater.com_
