Bolivar, Mo. -- The Missouri Southern cross country programs opened up the 2016 season as the men swept the top five spots to win and the women finished second at the Southwest Baptist Invite today at Bolivar City Municipal Golf Course.
The Southern men went 1-5 to sweep first place tonight in the four-mile twilight race.
Vincent Kiprop won the individual title finishing the course in a time of 23:08.68.
Cristobal Renteria placed second, coming in at 23:55.24, while
Tyler Rush was third (24:23.52),
Mike Shanahan was fourth (24:24.92) and
Cody Berry (24:29.72) placeed fifth.
Jared Haltom placed eighth in a time of 24:37/14, while
Josh Webb was 15th,
Nickson Kiptoo placed 19th and
Luke Johnson was 32nd.
Ryan Drendel,
Luis Suaste and
James Tupper placed 45th, 47th and 51st, respectively.
As a team, the Lions scored the minimum 15 points and had seven runners in the top 14. Central Missouri was second with a total of 78 points, while Southwest Baptist, Drury, Washburn, John Brown, William Woods and Evangel round out the team scores.
On the women's side, Southern had five runners in the top 16, but Southwest Baptist edged out the Lions, placing five runners in the top ten.
Emily Harris and
Cynthia Torres placed third and fourth, respectively, turning in times of 18:48.13 and 18:52.54 over the 4k course.
Sarah Usher was eighth in a time of 19:21.21, while
Christian Provence placed 11th in a time of 19:32.91.
Sierra Gray was 16th, while
Shelby Werner placed 26th.
Gabriel Hill and
Meggi Augustosky placed 35th and 48th, respectively.
SBU had 24 team points, followed by the Lions in second with 41. Central Missouri was third, followed by Drury, Washburn, Evangel, John Brown, Lincoln and Cottey College.
Southern will be off for a week before the Lions play host to the Southern Stampede on September 17 at the Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course.
