JOPLIN, Mo. — The Griffon men's and women's cross country teams competed at the Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course, where history was made as
Wimach Gilo placed seventh at the NCAA Central Region Championships, setting a new program record in the 10K.
Gilo led the way for the Griffons, clocking a time of 30:45.70 to place 7th overall His time also set a new program record in the 10K, surpassing the previous best of 30:49.3 set by Riley Gorham at the Central Regionals in 2022.
Behind Gilo,
Pau Valderrama finished 26th at 31:28.71, followed by
Logan Soedt in 101st at 33:26.08,
Mason Orscheln in 113th at 33:38.52,
Sam Shipp in 154th at 34:40.75, and
Ryan Ringgenberg in 160th at 34:48.89 to complete the men's lineup. As a team, the Griffon men placed 14th out of 30 teams.
On the women's side,
Abby Kinney paced MoWest with a 55th-place finish in 22:25.23, coming just short of her own all-time ninth-best program mark of 22:24.6 set at the Central Regionals in 2022.
Meagan Smith placed 175th at 24:56.91,
Hailey McKinney was 179th at 25:09.68,
Bailey Cutler finished 186th at 25:29.57, and
Brianna DeBord crossed 229th at 27:43.61. As a team, the Griffon women placed 29th out of 35 teams.
Thoughts from Head Coach Sean Gosewisch
"I was proud of the women for placing as a team for the first time since 2022. For three of our five runners, it was only their second 6K ever, and I thought they handled themselves very well. Abby has been a great leader for us all year and once again stepped up at this regional meet. She will be missed, but as we move forward, we will continue to grow and improve as a team.
On the men's side, Wimach had a heroic race for himself and his team. He achieved a top-10 finish in the region for the first time in school history and broke the program's 10K record in the process, and I fully expect him to earn an at-large bid to the national meet as an individual, which would also be a first in school history. The team as a whole was frankly disappointing; we should have finished in the top ten but couldn't put it together with our remaining six. All we can do now is focus on track season and approach next year's cross country campaign with more purpose.
