The Kansas State men’s and women’s cross country teams saw steady growth compared to last year after competing Oct. 31 in the Big 12 championship. The Wildcat men’s team placed eleventh and the women’s team placed ninth, both one spot higher than last season.
Sophomore Jackson Esquilbel once again paced the men’s squad, placing 57th and running a 24:51.2. Senior Julian Avila ran his first Big 12 championship with 26:07.3. Freshman Logan Beckman ran a personal best of 25:02.1 for 64th place.
“Logan had a great day, he really went for it,” K-State head coach Kate Bucknam said. “Those guys have been consistent all season, and they did a good job sticking together and packing up. Same with the guys behind them too.”
Junior Jacob Norriss turned in his best 8k of the year at 25:25.0 in 77th place, while freshman Dylan Path clocked his second sub-26-minute race at 25:58.3 in 86th. Sophomore Brock Olson was close behind at 24:56.7 for 60th place. He credits his familiarity with Rim Rock’s rolling terrain.
“Rim Rock is a course I raced on many times in high school,” Olsen said. “It helped me know when to conserve energy and when to make my moves. This season has been about laying a foundation for the future, and we’ve learned a lot as a young team.”
On the women’s front, senior Grace Meyer led K-State for the fourth time this season, placing 44th with a time of 20:59.4 and what would be her last Big 12 championship. Sophomore Stella Miner was two seconds behind at 21:01.8 for 46th in her postseason debut. Senior Ceclia Fisher finished 60th in 21:33.2.
“There were six teams in the women’s field ranked in the top 20 personally,” Bucknam said. “It’s a really competitive race, but I think our women approached it with confidence and executed the plan.”
K-State relied on its depth without sophomore Christine Jerono. Juniors Paige Baker, Vienna Lahner, along with freshman Payton Fink, stepped up in Jerono’s absence.
“Paige and Payton really stepped up as our four and five,” Bucknam said. “I always talk about the top three, but those back three are just as important. They didn’t put themselves in a pecking order; they just knew they had to be close and pass as many people as they could.”
After this encouraging improvement, K-State now turns its attention to the NCAA Midwest Regional in two weeks, on Nov. 14 at the Oklahoma State University Cross Country Course in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
