Six Top-50 Finishes Round out Pre-Nationals in Tallahassee

Friday, October 15

Tallahassee, FL

7:35 AM

Kansas State University

Pre-National Invitational

Six Top-50 Finishes Round out Pre-Nationals in Tallahassee

Oct 15, 2021 | Cross Country

Men's Results Women's Results

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – It was an early morning for the Kansas State cross country teams as they competed at the Pre-Nationals Invitational in Tallahassee, Florida at the Apalachee Regional Park on Friday (October 15).

The Wildcats placed fourth overall in the Men's Open 8k race with 158 points, defeating Arizona, California and Big 12 rival Kansas. The women's team finished 27^th in the Women's Garnet 6k race with 730 points.

"The men had a good day today," stated head coach Ryun Godfrey. "We had 29 seconds between our 1-7. We need to keep the gap that close at the Big 12 Championships. We might even be able to close that gap to 20 seconds. Good effort on the men's side."

Top-ranked Northern Arizona won the Men's Open 8k race with 38 points, well ahead of No. 5 BYU, while fifth-ranked Colorado captured the Women's Garnet 6k race with 54 points, outdistancing No. 10 Utah.

The men's team placed six of their 11 runners in the top-50 led by junior Hadley Splechter for the third time this season. Splechter finished the men's 8k in 25^th place out of 256 competitors with a time of 24:55.3.

Right in a row were redshirt junior Kerby Depenbusch in 34^th (25:01.7), senior Noah Stevenson in 35^th (25:01.7) and junior David Lutgen in 36^th (25:02.6).

Freshman Thomas Hazen recorded a time of 25:08.1, earning him 43^rd place. The sixth top-50 runner for K-State was redshirt junior Mike Rohlinger in 47^th with a time of 25:14.0.

In the 53^rd spot was senior Stephen Kielhofner, completing the 8k in 25:24.4. Freshman Carson Sturdy ran a time of 26:17.2, placing 119^th. Not far behind Sturdy was freshman Matthew Hauser in 122^nd with a time of 26:18.8.

Concluding the men's 8k was sophomore Kyle Johnston (130^th, 26:25.0) and junior Jack Moore (146^th, 26:37.5)

"On the women's side we also had good effort," said Godfrey. "We are looking forward to the Big 12 Championships. We need to continue to work as we have all season."

Competing in her first race of the season, redshirt senior Kassidy Johnson led the way in the women's 6k with a time of 21:23.1, placing 117^th out of 243 runners. Close behind Johnson was sophomore Sydney Burton in 121^st. Burton finished the event with a time of 21:26.5.

Junior Hannah Stewart clocked in a time of 21:45.5 and finished in 146^th place. Up next in the 174^th spot was junior Cailan Steward. The Kansas native recorded a time of 22:03.0.

In 199^th was the junior from Topeka, Kansas, Jaybe Shufelberger with a time of 22:31.3. Rounding out for K-State was sophomore Helen Giefer (231^st, 23:34.8) and junior Delaney Kemp (241^st, 24:18.3).

K-State will take a two-week break before making their way to the 2021 Big 12 Cross Country Championships in Stillwater, Oklahoma on October 29 at the Greiner Family Cross Country Course. The championship will be aired on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ following the event.

For the latest on K-State Cross Country follow @kstatesports and @KStateTFXC on Twitter or Kansas State Track & Field/Cross Country on Facebook.