Women's Cross Country Achieves Third Place Finish at Rim Rock Farm Classic

Saturday, October 3

Lawrence, Kan.

Grand Canyon

Rim Rock Farm Classic

Women's Cross Country Achieves Third Place Finish at Rim Rock Farm Classic

10/3/2015 7:13:00 PM | Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

LAWRENCE, Kans. – Competing for their second straight year in the Rim Rock Farm Classic, both the men's and women's cross country teams improved on their times from last season and the women's team placed a stellar third place finish in the meet and the men finished eighth overall.

Kansas and Rice took first and second in the women's race, while the men's top-three teams were Iowa State, Kansas, and Nebraska.

"We had a great day at Rim Rock," said head coach Sara Slattery. "We had personal records from every athlete on both the men's and women's teams and the fields were much deeper and stronger this year."

The women's squad beat their team time from last season by over six minutes and posted three top-25 finishes. Senior Kelsi Klotter led GCU with a 10^th place finish (21:52.2), besting her time last year by over a minute in the 6k event. Junior Emily Wilkinson and sophomore Mariah Montoya recorded 16^th (22:14.6) and 17^th (22:17.4) place finishes, respectively, in the Division I segment.

"The women were top-three, which is huge!" said Slattery. "They beat Nebraska as well as New Mexico State. Kelsi ran a big personal record and was 10^th. She would have been 3^rd in this race last year with her time. Emily and Mariah were both in the top-25."

Seniors Rebekah Young and Kendra Altman rounded out GCU's top-five with times less than a second apart to place 30^th and 31^st, respectively.

"Bekka and Kendra really had strong finishes!" continued Slattery. "Our freshman Lindy Jacobson was moving the last mile and ran a really intelligent race. Nicole Zampino ran a huge personal record and almost broke 24 minutes. It was a big improvement for the Lopes!"

The men's team was led by sophomore Samuel Proctor for the third straight meet. Proctor placed 22^nd in the Division I segment and beat his time from last season by two and a half minutes. Senior Matthew Jackson was the next finisher with a time of 25:48.6, while junior Jose Retana was close behind at 25:50.4. Sophomore Chris Baker and freshman Brendan Wagler closed out the team scores for the Lopes

"Sam would have been top five with his time this year in last year's race," explained Slattery. "Jose and Matt both ran very smart solid races and Brendan, Chris and Sammy Schilling and Garet Kaul ran really smart and tough the last half of the race."

Grand Canyon will continue their season next weekend at the Thunderbird Classic, hosted by Mesa Community College. A full recap of the meet will be available at www.gculopes.com.