Men and Women's Team Earn Top-Five Finishes at UE Invitational

Saturday, October 19

Evansville, Ind.

10 a.m. CT

Western Kentucky University

UE Invitational

Men and Women's Team Earn Top-Five Finishes at UE Invitational

10/19/2019 4:31:00 PM | Cross Country

Results Photo Gallery

EVANSVILLE, IND. – Both the men's and women's team placed in the top five of their respective races as WKU Cross Country closed out competition in the UE Invitational Saturday, Oct. 19 at the Angel Mounds State Historical Site in Evansville, Ind.

The men's team earned a fourth-place finish in the 8k with an average time of 26:44.5, while the women's squad placed fifth in the 5k with a 20:09.7 average mark.

"Both the men's and women's team had pre-race goals of having our one through five scorers finishing closer to one another by running in smaller groups," said cross country head coach Tim Sykes. "Overall, the men did a nice job with a one minute spread between one and five. Additionally, the is the first race of the season that we had all of our women racing, so that's exciting and a step in the right direction as we approach the conference championships.

"We wanted to compete well with the other Division I teams and both the men's and women's squad proved today that our focus on training and recovery is paying off with our solid top-five team finishes. It should be a fun and exciting conference championships at home in two weeks as we put the final training preparations in."

The men's squad saw four of their student-athletes earn top-25 finishes while placing fourth as a team amongst the 10-team field. Emerson Wells recorded the top finish on the team, placing seventh with a time of 25:57.3. Dedrick Troxell finished the meet in 17^th place with a mark of 26:28.9, while Ethan Snyder placed 24^th with a personal-record of 26:59.5 and Jacob Steppe placed 25^th with a time of 27:00.7.

WKU Men's Results
4^th – Team – 26:44.5 avg.
7^th – Emerson Wells – 25:57.3
17^th – Dedrick Troxell – 26:28.9
24^th – Ethan Snyder – 26:59.5 (PR)
25^th – Jacob Steppe – 27:00.7
27^th – Will Perrone – 27:15.7
28^th – Jacob Skillman – 27:19.0
30^th – Clint Sherman – 27:22.6
44^th – Luke Hoover – 28:14.0
48^th – Donnie Fry – 28:47.3 (PR)

On the women's side, four runners recorded top-25 finishes while the team placed fifth out of the 10-school pool. Savannah Heckman led the way, finishing fifth with a mark of 19:01.1. Morgan Kannapel placed 17^th after recording a PR of 19:44.6, while Haley Webb [23^rd Place – 20:28.2] and Carley Maskos [25^th Place – 20:39.1] rounded out the top-25 finishers.

WKU Women's Results
5^th – Team – 20:09.7 avg.
5^th – Savannah Heckman – 19:01.1
17^th – Morgan Kannapel – 19:44.6 (PR)
23^rd – Haley Webb – 20:28.2
25^th – Carley Maskos – 20:39.1
29^th – Jenna Vaughn – 20:55.2
36^th – Heather Whitlow – 21:30.2
40^th – Kaia Enevoldsen – 22:23.5 (Season-Best)
51^st – Kacy Weinburgh – 22:49.6
56^th – Lauren Roby – 23:38.6 (PR)

The Hilltoppers will now prepare to host the Conference USA Cross Country Championships at Spero Kereiakes Park Saturday, Nov. 2.