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Tiger runners battle the conditions for solid times
10/11/2009
By KLINT SPILLER
The Hays Daily News
Fort Hays State University junior cross country runner Cameron Reith loves running in cold weather, so Saturday's mid-20 degree temperatures and freezing rain at the Tiger Open must have been a paradise for him.
Enduring a wind chill that made the temperature feel closer to 10 degrees, the Fort Hays runners posted numerous season best times, and the men's and women's cross country squads placed third and fourth, respectively, with team scores of 82 and 94 in the Tigers' final regular season meet.
"You can't think of it as a bad kind of day, because then you psych yourself out before the race," Reith said. "You have to think of it as that everybody has to run in it, so you might as well endure it."
Reith led the men's squad, which placed third 61 points behind Colorado School of Mines, ranked No. 7 in NCAA Division II, and 20 points behind Garden City Community College, ranked No. 4 in NJCAA Division I.
Reith placed 12th in a time of 25 minutes, 20.64 seconds -- a personal best.
Reith, who admitted it was a fast course, said mental toughness was a key to running well in such miserable conditions.
"I love this kind of weather to race in," Reith said. "It is not fun to train in, but racing in it, I know that everyone has to run it, and I'm not going to psych myself out before the race. A lot of other people are beaten before the race even gets started."
All five of the men's top runners ran personal best times in the cold conditions.
Sophomore Tanner Christensen finished 18th in 25:35.18, while junior Eddie Banda placed 20th in 25:44.31.
Sophomore Jared Shillington and junior Daniel Bucher rounded out the scoring, placing 29th and 35th with times of 25:57.05 and 26:13.13.
"They went out, and they weren't afraid of the weather," Tiger coach Jason McCullough said. "We had some very good nationally-ranked teams here in Division II and JuCo, and it was good to get out and compete against them."
The women placed outside of the top three as a team for just the second time this season.
Last year's meet winner, University of Northern Colorado, defended its title and won the meet with a score of 46, while Air Force Academy and Colorado School of Mines placed second and third with scores of 51 and 55.
Senior Ali Mishler said she was a bit disappointed with the results.
"I wish we would have finished better today," Mishler said. "I don't really know why if it was just the weather or if we didn't feel good, it could have been a number of different things."
Junior Amie Algrim led the women, placing 11th in a personal best time of 18:48.67.
Junior Hali Mobley and Mishler finished in 14th and 17th with times of 18:58.99 and 19:12.32 respectively, while freshman Gentry Linscott finished in 25th in 19:20.97.
"I've never ran in a race this cold I don't think," Mishler said. "It was fun, but it was just cold."
After missing two meets for a leg injury and illness, sophomore Kelsey Savage returned as the Tigers' fifth runner, placing 39th in 20:24.85.
"The girls were spread out a little more than I thought they'd be," McCullough said. "Sometimes, if you can't stay within that pack, it makes it very difficult in harsh weather conditions."
Savage finished within 10 seconds of the Tigers' fourth runner at the University of Nebraska-Kearney 4,500-meter race, but McCullough said it might take Savage some time to return to that level after taking time off to recover.
"She definitely needs some time to get back into shape," McCullough said. "She was within a minute and five second of our fourth runner. I really want to close that gap to at least 45 seconds."
The Tigers won't compete for two weeks as they prepare for the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association championships Oct. 24.
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| BB | 03/17 | Missouri S&T | W 2-1 (10) |
| SB | 03/17 | Bethany | W 6-1 |
| SB | 03/17 | Bethany | W 8-1 |
| BB | 03/16 | Misosuri S&T | L 13-4 |
| MB | 03/14 | Central Missouri | L 80-73 |
| BB | 3/13 | NW Missouri | W 13-10 |
| BB | 03/13 | NW Missouri | W 4-3 |
| MB | 03/13 | Central Oklahoma | W 80-64 |
| SB | 03/08 | Fort Lewis | W 5-4 |
| BB | 03/07 | No. 9 Emporia State | L 13-7 |
| BB | 03/06 | No. 9 Emporia State | L 16-4 |
| BB | 03/06 | No. 9 Emporia State | W 3-0 |
| MB | 03/05 | Emporia State | L 65-61 |
| BB | 03/05 | No. 9 Emporia State | L 10-3 |
| WB | 03/04 | No. 15 Emporia | L 72-66 |
| WB | 02/28 | No. 12 Emporia State | L 87-80 |
| MB | 02/28 | Emporia State | W 94-47 |
| SB | 02/28 | Quincy | L 6-0 |
| SB | 02/27 | Mo Southern | W 9-3 |
| SB | 02/27 | Missouri S&T | L 8-3 |