Men Finish Second, Women Take Fourth at Chile Pepper Festival

The K-State men's and women's cross country teams performed well against a high-quality field at the Chile Pepper Festival with second and fourth-place finishes on Friday (September 30) in Fayetteville, Ark.

Both teams kept pace with Division I teams such as host Arkansas, whose men and women are ranked nationally, Arkansas State and Big 12 foe Oklahoma. In total, 33 men's teams and 31 women's teams competed in the meet.

The men's team placed second among Division I competition with 177 points, finishing behind only host and 16^th-ranked Arkansas which claimed the McConnell Memorial Men's 8k title with 61 points. The women's team earned a fourth-place finish with 208 points, as the 13^th-ranked Razorback women captured the Women's College 5k crown with 29 points.

The men's team had three runners place in the top-40, including a pair in the top-15 in senior Stephen Kielhofner (12^th/24:06.6) and junior Hadley Splechter (15^th/24:16.8). Kielhofner ran a new personal best 8k time while also achieving the new fastest time by a Wildcat at Agri Park taking the spot from Jeff Bachman at 26:21.1 in 2014.
Splechter earned his second top-20 finish of the season with a new personal-best 8k time.

Sophomore Tommy Hazen (39^th; 24:40.3) was the third Wildcat to place in the top-40, finishing 39^th with a new personal-best 8k time of 24:40.3. Sophomore Jack Vincent (57^th; 24:57.1) ran 18 seconds faster than his previous 8k of the season.

In their first races of the season, junior Kerby Depenbusch (128^th; 25:33.2) and sophomore Kyle Johnston (143^rd; 25:43.3) finished within 10 seconds of each other and in the more than the middle of the pack out of 356 runners.

Junior Sydney Burton (13^th; 16:57.6) led the pack once again for the Wildcats in her third consecutive personal-best 5k time this season, shaving off another 30 seconds from her previous best. Two other women that have consistently been top three performers landed in the top-50, as juniors Hannah Stewart (20^th; 17:18.8) and Cailan Steward (17:32.8) both achieved new personal-best 5k times.

Two freshmen – Cecilia Fisher (65^th; 17:59.0) and Grace Meyer (102^nd; 18:24.9) – followed the trio with Fisher breaking 18 minutes in a new personal-best 5k time, while Meyer added just 19 seconds to her time despite running on a sprained ankle. Sophomore Katie Kasunic (103^rd; 18:25.1) ran a new personal-best 5k time, more than 51 seconds faster than her last meet.

In her first meet of the season, sophomore Alexa Rios (18:44.7) finished 135^th out of 276 runners.

FROM THE HEAD COACH
Head Coach Randy Cole
On the race overall…
"We had some top notch performances. Sydney Burton really continues to shine; she ran one of the fastest 5k times. We had a little mishap, Grace Meyer sprained her ankle the day before, but she gave it a go and ran solid. The guys gave a really solid performance, had some really top notch marks. Good trip down and good experience running in a larger, probably a little tighter, that is not as much room to maneuver."

On the first meet for Alexa Rios, Kerby Depenbusch and Kyle Johnston…
"I just tried to encourage them to give it a go, they were probably going to be doing a pretty good workout anyway on their own, so just try to run controlled and get into that race opportunity and they actually did a nice job."

FROM THE COURSE
Junior Cailan Steward
On continuing to get better every meet…
"I haven't done anything special, just continuing to train consistently and try to push myself harder in the middle portion of the race."

On using this meet to prepare for the next…
"I would definitely like to have a stronger finish and beat some people on the home stretch. That's something I've been lacking this year so far."

WOMEN'S DIVISION-I FINISH (5k race)

Arkansas, 29 pts
Southern Miss, 129 pts
Oklahoma, 159 pts
K-State, 208 pts
Arkansas State, 220 pts
Abilene Christian, 304 pts
Belmont, 322 pts
Missouri State, 376 pts
Stephen F. Austin, 412 pts
Houston, 425 pts

K-STATE'S INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (5k race)
13. Sydney Burton, 16:57.6
20. Hannah Stewart, 17:18.8
36. Cailan Steward, 17:32.8
65. Cecilia Fisher, 17:59.0
102. Grace Meyer, 18:24.9
103. Katie Kasunic, 18:25.1
131. Helen Giefer, 18:42.9
135. Alexa Rios, 18:44.7
188. Katie Schwartzkopf, 19:22.8
205. Kate Kowalik, 19:33.2

MEN'S DIVISION-I FINISH (8k race)

Arkansas, 61 pts
K-State, 177 pts
Arkansas State, 244 pts
Belmont, 412 pts
Tarleton State, 458 pts
Stephen F. Austin, 474 pts
Sam Houston, 499 pts
Oklahoma, 521 pts
Houston, 547 pts
Abilene Christian, 599 pts

K-STATE'S INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (8k race)
12. Stephen Kielhofner, 24:06.6
15. Hadley Splechter, 24:16.8
39. Tommy Hazen, 24:40.3
57. Jack Vincent, 24:57.1
70. Jack Moore, 25:05.0
101. David Lutgen, 25:19.1
128. Kerby Depenbusch, 25:33.2
143. Kyle Johnston, 25:43.3
151. Mike Rohlinger, 25:48.5
222. Matthew Hauser, 26:33.9
234. Carson McEachern, 26:41.0
279. Aiden Higgerson, 27:23.1

UP NEXT
K-State returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 15 when the Wildcats travel to Stillwater, Okla., for the Weis-Crockett Invitational at the Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course. This will be the teams' first time in the meet with the last time coming in 2021 at the Cowboy Jamboree when both teams finished in the top 10.

How to follow the 'Cats: For complete information on the K-State Track and Field and Cross Country Teams, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team's social media channels on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Kansas State University Athletics

Men Finish Second, Women Take Fourth at Chile Pepper Festival

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Players Mentioned

Sydney Burton

Kerby Depenbusch

Cecilia Fisher

Helen Giefer

Matthew Hauser

Tommy Hazen

Aiden Higgerson

Kyle Johnston

Katie Kasunic

Stephen Kielhofner

Kate Kowalik

David Lutgen

Carson McEachern

Grace Meyer

Jack Moore

Alexa Rios

Mike Rohlinger

Katie Schwartzkopf

Hadley Splechter

Cailan Steward

Hannah Stewart

Jack Vincent