By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
JOPLIN, Mo. – The Fort Hays State men’s and women’s teams both finished in the top 10 in a pair of stacked races at the 33rd Missouri Southern Stampede Saturday morning (Sept. 17). The Tiger women backed up their season-opening victory with a fifth place finish out of 26 teams, while the men finished ninth out of 21 squads.
The women tied for fifth place with 166 points between their top five finishers, with the Tigers taking the tiebreaker against Cal State East Bay by way of three head-to-head victories when comparing each finisher in the lineup one through five. The women finished third out of the 10 MIAA programs in attendance.
Sophomore Gretchen Kuffel led the Tigers for the second week in a row, traversing the five-kilometer course at the Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course in 17:14.2 to place seventh out of 251 finishers. Regan Hodsden was next across the line for FHSU, finishing in 13th place with a time of 17:35.4. Jaycee Vath earned a 37th-place finish with a time of 18:09.3, with Darian Hudgeons finishing 51st in 18:30.0 and Elizabeth Fender crossing the line in 18:35.8 to place 58th.
The Tiger men accumulated 259 points, good for sixth out of the nine MIAA programs competing. Grant Bradley finished third individually for the second race in a row, traversing the eight-kilometer course in 24:17.9. Lucas Cisneros finished 58th with a time of 26:05.9, while Corbin Ricke (26:23.3) and Jaret Pfizenmaier (26:26.8) placed 74th and 76th, respectively. Cori DeBoest rounded out the Tiger top five in 87th place out of the 261 finishers with a time of 26:34.8.
Missouri Southern won the team competition on the men’s side with 44 points, including each of the top two finishers in Gidieon Kimutai (23:37.3) and Ryan Riddle (23:53.7). Division I Arkansas won the women’s team race with 34 points, with Razorback Katie McCune crossing the line first in 16:50.8.
The Tigers will continue the season in two weeks (Sept. 30) when FHSU travels to Columbia, Mo. to compete in the Gans Creek Classic, hosted by the University of Missouri. The men will open festivities with an 8K at 10:30 a.m., with the women’s 6K to follow at 11:15 a.m.
Full FHSU Women’s Results
5th – Fort Hays State – 166 points
7th – Gretchen Kuffel – 17:14.2
13th – Regan Hodsden – 17:35.4
37th – Jaycee Vath – 18:09.3
51st – Darian Hudgeons – 18:30.0
58th – Elizabeth Fender – 18:35.8
79th – Emily Salmans – 19:03.0
86th – Faith Little – 19:07.1
97th – Brooke Navarro – 19:19.5
132nd – Ashlyn Harbaugh – 19:44.2
143rd – Hattie Lukert – 19:49.6
155th – Mya Navarro – 20:04.1
173rd – Elka Billings – 20:27.4
183rd – Hannah Wiebe – 20:36.8
186th – Ursula Billings – 20:42.22
Full FHSU Men’s Results
9th – Fort Hays State – 259
3rd – Grant Bradley – 24:17.9
58th – Lucas Cisneros – 26:05.9
74th – Corbin Ricke – 26:23.3
76th – Jaret Pfizenmaier – 26:26.8
87th – Cori DeBoest – 26:34.8
98th – Javyn Contreras – 26:47.8
100th – Matthew Schrag – 26:49.7
120th – Trever Medina – 27:08.3
144th – Aaron Mangan – 27:29.6
185th – Isaac Radke – 28:17.8
214th – Ethan Lang – 29:14.7
226th – Gavin Brady – 30:01.4