Men's Cross Country | 9/19/2015 5:29:00 PM

FULL RESULTS

JOPLIN, Mo. – St. Edward's University Men's and Women's Cross Country took big strides forward at the Missouri Southern Stampede on Saturday with multiple runners improving their best times by over a minute.
 
Run on the same course that is slated to host the NCAA Division II National Championships, the race featured over 200 runners from 23 teams for the women and over 250 runners from 25 teams for the men.
 
In his second collegiate race, JOHN DANIELS led the men's team again, finishing the 8k in a time of 27:25.77 while it was KEOMI HAMLIN leading the women in the 5k  with a top-100 finish in 19:06.34.
 
"We did well today. There was a considerable amount of improvement on our times and I am very proud of the group," said head coach David Chandler. "It was good to be able to run against other Heartland Conference Schools because it gives us an idea of where we are at. The women are blazing a trail that is very impressive, and the entire team is inspired by the progress they see from their teammates."
 
On the men's side Daniels led while NICHOLAS BARRETT, HOGAN DAUGHTERS and EVAN HERRING all improved their times. GABRIEL MONTICURE, NICK LEITGEB and JAMES TOWNLEY rounded out the Hilltoppers top seven. Missing from St. Edward's usual top runners was CHRIS JACKSON who stayed home to take the GRE with hopes of getting into the chemistry graduate program at Stanford or California-Berkley.
 
For the women it was a close race among teammates as St. Edward's top three runners all finished within three seconds of each other. Following closely on Hamlin's heels were KATY GILLIS and RACHEL FREI while VICTORIA MAYORGA and ALYA SALEM were just 37 seconds behind them. HOPE RYAN posted a strong outing, improving her 5k time by a full minute and PAMELA CISNEROS rounded out a strong top seven for the Toppers.
 
In the team standings St. Edward's men finished just points behind Heartland Conference foes, Texas A&M-International and Rogers State. The women beat out four conference schools in their race, including: Oklahoma Christian, Texas A&M-International, Newman, and Rogers State.
 
Next week the men and women will travel to Fayetteville, Arkansas for the Chile Pepper Festival. It will mark the first time this season that the men will have all of their top runners while the women will look to continue capitalizing on their success.
 
Fans can keep up with the team online at GoHilltoppers.com and on Facebook at St. Edward's University Cross Country.