JOPLIN, Mo. – The University of Arkansas - Fort Smith Cross Country teams built upon their strong start to the season as each team earned a top-10 finish at the Missouri Southern Stampede Saturday morning.
The women finished ninth of 24 teams with 275 points while the men took 10th of 28 teams with 350 points.
Nevaeh Kangas paced the Lion women in 44th with a 19:07.8 with Michaela Kaelin just seconds behind in 19:11.0. Cindy Soto and Olivia Prothro were next to cross the line, pacing each other as Soto finished in 19:44.2 and Prothro in 19:46.7.
Angelina Hernandez rounded out the top five for the Lions with a time of 20:02.4. Cypress Erickson and Molly Gream completed the scoring for UAFS in 20:17.3 and 20:32.2, respectively.
Kangas, Erickson, Kaelin, Prothro and Soto all ran personal bests in the race.
Evan Smith ran the second fastest time in the 8k and is just 11 seconds off the record as he led the Lion men with a 19th-place finish in 25:05.6. Trenton Smith was the second Lion to finish in 26:00.8.
Rounding out the top five for UAFS were Troy Ferguson in 27:17.3, Samuel Bulmer in 27:25.6 and Angel Cordero in 27:47.0. Alex Martinez and Sawyer Beller completed the lineup for UAFS in 28:24.9 and 29:55.0, respectively.
Bulmer, Ferguson, Martinez, Smith and Smith all tallied personal bests.
The next race for the Lions is the Golden Eagle Invitational October 10 in Siloam Springs, Arkansas.
