Men's Cross Country Takes Fifth in Season-Opening Washington University Early Bird

(ST. LOUIS, Mo., Sept. 1)—The McKendree University men's cross country team raced to a fifth place finish out of 15 squads Saturday morning at the Washington University Early Bird Meet in St. Louis.
 
The Bearcats had four runners place in the top 35 of the eight-kilometer race on a muddy course. Junior Elkana Kipsang(Eldoret, Kenya/Legebet) turned in the best performance for McKendree, grabbing fifth place out of 162 runners in the field. Kipsang crossed the finish line in a time of 19:35.
 
Junior Blake DeLong (Hillsboro, IL/Hillsboro) (Hillsboro, Ill./Hillsboro) grabbed 30^th place with an effort of 20:29, while senior Darren Hooks (Alhambra, IL/Highland) (Alhambra, Ill./Highland) was close behind in 33^rd position at 20:33. SeniorColin Voss (Breese, IL/Breese Central) (Breese, Ill./Breese Central) rounded out the quartet by taking 35^th place, just two seconds behind Hooks at 20:35.
     
Southeast Missouri State University captured top team honors in the men's division, followed by host Washington University with Missouri University of Science and Technology finishing third overall. As a team, McKendree finished just ahead of new Great Lakes Valley Conference foe Maryville University, which took sixth place on the day.
 
McKendree will return to action Sept. 15 at the Richard Clark Invitational in Springfield, Mo. The event is being hosted by Missouri State University on the same course that will be used for the GLVC Championship on Oct. 20.