This past Sunday, the Drake men’s cross-country team, behind the legs of sophomore Brogan Austin, placed third overall at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championships in Terre Haute, Ind.
Austin became the first Drake athlete to win the coveted State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championship since Bobby Anderson finished the 8,000-meter race in first place in 2004. Austin crossed the finish line in 25 minutes, 15 seconds.
“I have been looking forward to this for a long time,” Austin said in a Drake athletics press release. “Things worked out the way that I had hoped. This result will give me more confidence heading into regionals in a few weeks.”
Six places behind Austin was sophomore Omet Kak, who finished in seventh place with a time of 25:27.9. Kak earned all-conference honors along with Austin.
Just one spot away from all-conference honors was sophomore Doug Brady, who finished in 11th with a time of 25:31.6.
Senior Colin Hagan finished in 14th with a time of 25:45.4, senior Matt Jurysta finish in 32nd with a time of 26:23.0, and he was followed shortly by freshman Conor Wells in 33rd with a time of 26:23.6.
“We didn’t the get the team result we wanted to heading into the weekend, but they put in a heck of an effort,” head coach Dan Hostager said. “They ran hard and were beat by two very tough teams.”
Next on the calendar for the Bulldog runners is the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship at Northern Illinois on Nov. 12 in DeKalb, Ill.
Women
Spurred by freshman Mariel Fulton’s 29th-place finish, the young Drake women’s cross-country team finished in ninth place this past Sunday at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championships in Terre Haute, Ind.
Fulton, a native of Louisville, Colo., finished the 5,000-meter course in 18:58 to lead all Bulldogs.
The only senior and upperclassmen on the team was Kirsten Lake, who crossed the finish line with a time of 19:21 to finish in 46th place.
After Fulton and Lake was freshman Melissa Parks, who finished the race in 19:29 to finished in 48th.
Sophomores Amanda Marwitz and Erin Poss finished with times of 19:45 and 20:05, respectively, to round out the top five finishers for the Bulldogs.
“We had some great efforts today even though we were short-handed,” Hostager said in a press release. “Today was a good building block for the future as our conference is extremely tough and deep. Looking back at this year, we have shown great improvement from the start of the season.”
The Bulldogs will next see action at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship at Northern Illinois on Nov. 12 in DeKalb, Ill.
