By: John Kean, Athletic Communications Director
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's Emma Puetz recorded the third-fastest five-kilometer time on record to capture the women's race Friday at the Larry Young Invitational, while the men's team had a trio of top-10 finishers as both teams finished second in the team standings.
Puetz covered the course in a time of 18:10, winning the race by 14 seconds over William Woods' Mekayla Gibson and nearly a minute faster than third place finisher Malarie Pinwar of Huntington. The time was the fastest by a Miner since 2003, when Kate Hamera posted a time of 17:42 at the Southern Stampede and the only other faster one was posted by Sheri Lentz in 1996 at the University of Kansas.
S&T had one additional top-10 finisher in Victoria Regitz, who placed eighth in a time of 19:33. Grace Giesler finished in 19
th place in 20:29, while Clare Holmes was 23
rd in 20:50 and Grace Johnson was the fifth Miner across the line in 32
nd place in 21:47.
The Miners' next two finishers were Kelly Zipfel, who finished in 21:57 and Allison Rush, who had a time of 23:28. A total of 91 runners finished the race.
The Miners finished with 64 points to place second to William Woods, while edging Evangel by four points for the runner-up spot.
S&T's men finished a close second to Huntington as they ended up three points behind for the team title. Freshman
Henry Born (Lake Quivira, KS/Shawnee Mission Northwest) led the way with a second place showing in the eight-kilometer race in a time of 25:04. He was joined in the top 10 by
Lucas Rackers (Florissant, MO/St. Louis University HS), who finished fourth in 25:22 and
Joshua Nunn (Independence, MO/Truman), who recorded a 10
th place performance in a time of 26:20.
The Miners' two finishers to round up their top five were the Patterson twins, as
Samuel Patterson (Cameron, NC/Union Pines) was 13
th in 26:26 and
Joshua Patterson (Cameron, NC/Union Pines) was right behind him in 14
th in 26:28.
Spencer Teske (Naperville, IL/Neuqua Valley) came in 17
th place in 26:36 and Evan Michell was 18
th in 26:38 to round out S&T's scorers in the 128-runner event.
Huntington's Kent Yoder won the race in 24:57, finishing seven seconds ahead of Born.
Missouri S&T will compete in the Chile Pepper Festival at the University of Arkansas on Sept. 29.