Elsah, ILL. -- The 2018 cross country teams are off and running. On a very warm and humid morning at Principia's North Farm Cross Country Course, Principia welcomed five other teams to take on our challenging course. Opening day races are typically shorter than regularly raced distances. The women started things off with a 4-kilometer (2.5 miles) race, and the men followed with a 6-kilometer (3.75 miles) race.
Women
- Missouri Baptist University 25
- Maryville University 46
- Principia College 74
- St. Louis College of Pharmacy 99
- Fontbonne University 123
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Men
- Maryville University 16
- Missouri Baptist University 55
- Principia College 83
- St. Louis College of Pharmacy 102
- Blackburn College 138
|
Women
The women's race was won by Megan Seibel of Maryville in 16:01. From the start, freshman Emme Schaefer led the Panthers. However, by the first mile marker Afton Leslie had caught up to her teammate, and Allegra Pierce was close behind. Emme and Afton continued to push the pace, and shortly after the first mile Emme pulled ahead again and eventually claimed fifth place in 17:00. Afton came across the line in 11
th place in 17:55. Allegra was right behind in 12
th with 18:02. Ava Lesko was the fourth scorer in 22
nd place. The final runner to score for Principia was freshman Katie Wood in 21:51. Katie ran with fellow freshman Cassidy Proctor and Emily Staunton for a large part of the race before pulling ahead. Cassidy and Emily had a spirited sprint to the finish with Cassidy just edging Emily. The team is grateful to have Emily back since the previous fall she was studying in Peru.
Men
The men's race was won by Maryville's R.J. Brown in 20:57. The top Maryville seven runners ran together with the lead for the first half of the race.
Abe Ott played spoiler to Maryville's bid for a perfect score. Abe maintained a strong pace and passed some of the front runners and finished in fifth place with a time of 21:23. Freshman
Spencer Christensen was Principia's next runner in 24:15.
Drew Shotwell had a gritty race and was close behind in 24:30.
Tyler Williams and
Sammy Keyes were next for Principia to complete the scoring. Tyler, a freshman, and Sammy, a junior, were each running their first collegiate race.
Jordan Bond rounded out the final runners for the men with probably the fastest final 50 yards of anyone racing today.
What's Next
Next week the Panthers travel to Grinnell College to compete in the Les Duke invitational on September 8th. There are a few runners that didn't compete in the home opener. Starting next week the distances increase to the normal lengths of 6K (3.75 miles) for women and 8K (5 miles).
Full results
Women:
http://www.trxctiming.com/Principia_College/XC/Opener/Results/2018/women.htm
Men:
http://www.trxctiming.com/Principia_College/XC/Opener/Results/2018/men.htm
