STILLWATER, Okla. – University of Arkansas – Fort Smith Cross Country continued its 2023 season Saturday morning by running in the Cowboy Jamboree.
Both teams started seeing improvement as they approach the halfway mark of the season in their buildup to the conference meet. The women finished 13th with 389 points while the men placed 17th with 525 points.
“This weekend’s racecourse was a big challenge for both teams,” Head Coach Mason Rhodes said. “We raced very smart and focused on beating as many runners as possible. We are starting to seeour hard work from summer and early fall show up. This is the perfect point of the season to start seeing improvement.”
Rachel Malik led the Lions in the 6k event with a time of 24:36.7 to finish 79th while Zoe Nesbitt placed 114th in 25:46.7. Hailey Malik was not far behind in 118th in 25:58.2.
Rounding out the top five for UAFS were Madison Thurston in 131st in 26:29.3 and Quincy Efurd in 158th in 27:24.9. Cecilia Perez finished one spot behind Efurd in 27:25.5.
Corey Maxwell paced the men’s team in the 8k race with a 125th-place showing in 28:06.1. He was followed by Parker Brown in 150th in 28:41.0 and Isaac Teague in 162nd in 28:59.5.
Luke Bledsoe (174th) and Vincent Gonzales (205th) completed the top five for UAFS in 29:24.9 and 30:34.5, respectively.
“We now look forward to this two-week training block we have to iron out some rough spots as we get prepared for our final regular season meet,” Rhodes added.
UAFS will run its final regular season meet October 7at the UAH Chargers Invitational in Huntsville, Alabama.
