October 12, 2022

By Jack Toal

Missouri cross country is almost halfway through its season but has yet to find much success. Neither the men’s nor women’s teams have finished higher than third in any of their meets thus far. The highest placement for both teams occurred in the opening meet, where both sides finished third out of four teams.

That being said, there have been some impressive performances among different athletes. Marquette Hanson and Isabelle Christiansen, who paced their teams in their most recent meet, have been standouts through the year.

Senior Marquette Hanson has some of the men’s team’s best performanceswith a personal best of 18:41.0 in the 6K during the team’s season opener. Hanson followed this with a 13th place finish in the Gans Creek Classic Men’s 8K with a time of 24:00.5.

Sophomore Isabelle Christansen has been quite the standout as well, finishing as the top women’s cross country runner in every race this year. Christansen’s personal best 5K of the year was in the John McNichols Invitational, where she recorded a time of 18:13.2. Christansen’s best 6K time came in the Gans Creek Classic: 21.00.7.

Freshman Kaia Downs has been a highlight among the underclassmen. In Downs’ most recent meet, she finished with a time of 21.31.0 in the women’s 6K. Downs also finished 30th at the John McNichols invitational with a time of 18.28.3, the best time among the freshman Missouri women’s team.

The Tigers have taken a step back from last year. A year ago, at this same point, the Missouri women’s team was ranked fifth among the Midwest region, while the men’s team sat in eighth. This year, the men’s team is ninth in the most recent rankings poll for the Midwest Men’s Regional Coaches’ Rankings. The women’s team has fared slightly worse, slotting in at 12th in the most recent coaches’ rankings.

The Southeastern Conference Championships are coming up on Oct. 28, following the team’s last regular season meet, the Weis-Crockett Invitational on Oct. 15.

After an extended break, the team returns home on Nov. 11 for the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships. The Tigers will look to bounce back in time for their final few meets and drum up a similar performance to last year, where the men’s team placed third and the women’s team finished seventh out of the 12 teams from the Midwest Conference.

Edited by Brandon Haynes | bhaynes@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Amelia Hurley and Jacob Richey