The Kansas State men’s and women’s cross country teams finished with top-30 individual performances on Friday at the Bradley Pink Classic.
The Bradley Pink Classic, held at Newman Golf Course in Peoria, Illinois, was the final meet for the K-State teams before they compete in the Big 12 Championship. The teams will travel to Ames, Iowa for the championship meet on Oct. 26th.
The men’s team had eight individuals place in Friday’s race.
Senior Joe Gorthy and freshman Cooper Schroeder both placed in the top-30 for the men. Gorthy came in at 26th with a time of 25:13.7, and Schroeder finished just behind him in 27th with a time of 25:14.1. As a team, the men finished 19th out of 33 teams, with 499 points.
Junior Travis Hodge set a personal record, running the men’s 8-kilometer race in 26:30.7 to finish 159th overall. Freshman Charlie Parrish ran the race in 26:18.5 (134th) while redshirt freshman Dylan Brenneman came in at 176th with a time of 26:40.0.
Despite cold temperatures and heavy rain throughout the meet, head coach Ryun Godfrey told K-State Sports he was proud of the effort the team gave, saying “everyone gave it their all and I think there were some good performances.”
The women’s team saw two personal bests from sophomore Kassidy Johnson and junior Anna Keeley. The two finished with times of 22:03.3 and 22:32.9, respectively.
Senior Emma Wren led the Wildcats with a time of 21:51.7 for 54th overall. Wren finished just ahead of sophomore Cara Melgares, who placed 66th with a time of 21:56.1.
The women had five individuals place as the team finished 21st out of 39 teams. They collected 566 points, falling behind only one other Big 12 school in Iowa State, who won the women’s team race.
“We will take the weekend to recover a little bit, but from there we will get right back at it from a training standpoint and prepare for Big 12’s in two weeks,” Godfrey added.
The Wildcats will have a couple weeks before competing again when they travel to Ames, Iowa for the Big 12 Championships on Oct. 26th.
