Team Results
Individual Results
GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Freshman Nick
Moore finished fourth to lead the SIUE men's cross country team
in its season opener at the Ron Pynn Invitational hosted by the
University of North Dakota Saturday morning.
The Cougars defeated the host Fighting Sioux from North Dakota
17-38 and picked up a 15-45 win over the Beavers of Minot State.
The only loss for SIUE came against the two-time defending Summit
League champion Jackrabbits from South Dakota State 20-35.
"For the first race out, we had a lot of positive things
happen," said SIUE Head Coach Eileen
McAllister. "The guys did really well at sticking to their
strategy, which is a focus for the year. I couldn't be happier with
that."
Making an impressive debut for the Cougars was Moore. The
Springfield native led SIUE with a fourth-place finish completing
the 8,000-meter course in 26 minutes, 23.01 seconds.
"It was an awesome showing from a freshman," said McAllister.
"Nick ran right with his teammates which helped. He started to pull
away after the two-mile mark and the other guys responded and went
with him."
Close behind Moore was the top two Cougar runners from a year
ago in junior Aaron
Werths and senior Marc
Amarillas. Werths ended the race in 26:29.31 while Amarillas
ran the 8k in 26:36.06 to finish sixth and seventh,
respectively.
"Aaron showed a lot of control in the race staying with the plan
which definitely paid off," added McAllister. "Marc had a bit of a
calf issue, which tightened up on him during most of the race, but
he still ran well."
Sophomore Campbell
Walters also finished in the top 10 for SIUE placing ninth in a
time of 26:53.39. Just outside the top 10 in 11th was senior Shawn
Dillard. Dillard crossed the finish line in 27:04.24.
Sophomore J.D.
Wynn (28:50.42) and junior Marc
Presley (31:45.86) also ran for the Cougars placing 23rd and
30th, respectively.
"Compared to this time last year, our paces were even faster
than those of our 6k at Illinois," said McAllister. "They are
already so much stronger than they were last year. For them to run
these times without having another race before it was very
good."
SIUE returns home for its next meet when it hosts the SIUE Cross
Country Challenge Sept. 16 scheduled to begin at 6:15 p.m.
-siue cougars-
