Wells, Troxell & Heckman Lead WKU at Belmont Opener

Friday, August 30

Nashville, Tenn.

5 p.m. CT

Western Kentucky University

Belmont

8/30/2019 9:10:00 PM | Cross Country

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – WKU Cross Country opened a new era Friday, kicking off both the 2019 season and the Tim Sykes tenure for the Hilltopper squads. With just a week of training prior to the season-opening meet, Sykes saw the men's team take fifth while the women posted a ninth-place team finish from the Belmont Opener.

"Overall, this was a good test to see where we were at after summer training," WKU Cross Country head coach Tim Sykes shared. "As a group, we know that we came together and executed the race plan to the best of our abilities but will get back to work to keep improving."

Action from Percy Warner Park – Vaughn's Creek Cross Country Course opened with the women's race. While the Lady Toppers finished ninth in the 10-team field, the squad saw positive results despite a few setbacks.

Savannah Heckman led WKU with a 19:51.42 to finish 26^th in the 96-participant women's field. She was one of 29 competitors to post a sub-20-minute 5K time. Morgan Kannapel crossed second for WKU with a time of 21:15.76 and was followed closely by Jenna Vaughn (21:54.86).

WKU Women's Results
26th – Savannah Heckman – 19:51.421
46th – Morgan Kannapel – 21:15.760
57th – Jenna Vaughn – 21:54.856
66^th – Heather Whitlow – 22:53.980
80^th – Kaia Enevoldsen – 25:29.667
87^th – Lauren Roby – 27:08.360

"While the women's team result didn't look great, we had some bright spots today with Heckman and Kannapel both running well for us," Sykes shared.

On the men's side, nine Hilltoppers saw action from Music City. Emerson Wells and Dedrick Troxell finished within less than two-tenths of a second of each other, finishing 17^th and 18^th, respectively. Clint Sherman came in third for the Red and White with a 16:43.66 mark while Will Perrone also posted a sub-17-minute reading at 16:49.82 in the 5K race.

In total, 33 competitors finished in under 17 minutes including four of WKU's runners. The field was comprised of 84 participants. As a team, WKU turned in a fifth-place finish in the nine-squad field.

WKU Men's Results
17^th – Emerson Wells – 16:13.62
18^th – Dedrick Troxell – 16:13.78
27^th – Clint Sherman – 16:43.66
30^th – Will Perrone – 16:49.82
50^th – Luke Hoover – 17:27.83
52^nd – Jacob Steppe – 17:33.09
56^th – Carson Sharber – 17:51.22
58^th – Miles Huff – 18:09.61
59^th – Donnie Fry – 18:16.36

"The guys executed a really strong race plan today," added Sykes. "They did a really good job running as a pack and moved through the field nicely to finish fifth overall. Dedrick and Wells highlighted the meet for us and then we had a pretty strong 3, 4, 5 finish as well."

Seven of the 15 WKU student-athletes to compete were representing the Hilltoppers for the first time on the trails.

WKU Cross Country will be back in action in two weeks on Sept. 14 at the Commodore Classic.

How to follow WKU Cross Country: For complete information on WKU Cross Country, follow the team on Twitter at @WKUTrackField.