Wildcats Kick Off Cross Country Season at Bob Timmons Classic
LAWRENCE, Kan. - Racing in their first meet of the 2024 season, the Baker cross country teams competed at the Bob Timmons Classic, hosted by Kansas, on Saturday morning in Lawrence, Kan. where the BU women placed fifth and the BU men came in eighth.
As a team, the women finished with a total time of 1:49:12 to score a total of 145 points in the 5K race. The Wildcats finished ahead of fellow Heart of America team Park who took sixth with 173 points on the day.
Haley Carter paced the Wildcats and was the first non-NCAA runner to cross the finish line with Carter running a 5K time of 20:26.59 to finish 30th overall. The junior from Overland Park, Kan. is coming off a 2023 season that saw her finish top-15 and earn all-conference honorable mention honors at the 2023 Heart Cross Country Championships.
Ellie Barnard was the next runner to cross for BU with her time of 21:22.18 placing her 39th. The Wildcats had a pack of runners finish in the 22-minute range with Natalie Kennedy (22:06.82), Kristi Chambers (22:31.22) and Jana Landreth (22:45.67) all placing in the top-50.
On the men's side, the Wildcats totaled 207 points with Jaden Vohs crossing first for them at 20:30.00 and placing 38th in the 6K competition.
Jacob McGlasson and Michael Knaussman almost finished in back-to-back spots with McGlasson (21:07.90) coming in 51st, followed by Knaussman (21:09.42) with a 53rd-place finish. Cutter Meade (21:44.14) and Luke Persson (21:52.02) rounded out the scoring for BU.
The meet at KU's Rim Rock Farm marked the first of five regular-season competitions for Baker with the Wildcats set to compete at the Southern Stampede (Sept. 20), Gans Creek Invitational (Sept. 27) and the Billy Mills Invite (Oct. 5) before closing things out with BU's Mike Spielman Classic on Oct. 18 in Baldwin City.
The 2024 Heart Cross Country Championships will take place on Nov. 9 and will be hosted by Mount Mercy in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Baker will take a couple weeks to prepare for the Southern Stampede, hosted by Missouri Southern, which is set for Sept. 20 at 5:30 p.m. in Joplin, Mo.
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