Arkansas cross country teams sweep own Chile Pepper Invitational titles
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A successful Razorback debut had junior transfer Kirami Yego winning the McDonnell Memorial 8,000-meter race in 23 minutes, 14.1 seconds, on a hot Friday evening at Agri Park as Arkansas defended its team title with a score of 18 points in Friday’s 35th Chile Pepper Invitational.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A successful Razorback debut had junior transfer Kirami Yego winning the McDonnell Memorial 8,000-meter race in 23 minutes, 14.1 seconds, on a hot Friday evening at Agri Park as Arkansas defended its team title with a score of 18 points in Friday’s 35th Chile Pepper Invitational.
Arkansas freshman Paityn Noe led the No. 20 Razorbacks to its 11th consecutive team title.
In producing the fastest winning time over recent Chile Pepper Festival 8,000-meter races, Yego led the entire race, splitting 4:40.1 at the first mile, and 15:40.1 at 5.5k. His winning margin was 22.5 seconds over teammate Ben Shearer, runner-up in 23:36.6. Shearer split 4:40.8 at the mile and 15:55.7 at 5.5k.
Finishing behind the No. 22 Razorbacks in the team score was Western Colorado, who rank No. 11 in Division II, with 93 points as Incarnate Word, who are No. 5 in South Central region, placed third at 137.
The rest of the top 10 teams included Arkansas State (158), Oklahoma (235), Rice (277), Nebraska-Kearney (293), Central Missouri (294), Trinidad State (315) and Central Arkansas (334).
In the women’s race, Noe covered the Harter’s Habanero 5,000-meter course in a time of 16 minutes, 9.4 seconds to better the field by 34.7 seconds amid temperatures in the high 80s. This marked the fifth consecutive year for a Razorback to claim the women’s individual title.
Arkansas scored 20 points for the team victory over Southern Methodist University (89) and Western Colorado (121). The rest of the top 10 teams included Texas-Arlington (169), Arkansas State (220), Central Arkansas (232), Lamar (241), Texas Christian University (313), Missouri State (322) and Missouri Southern (341).
Covering the first mile in 5:12.5 and reaching the 3.5k mark in 11:35.2, Noe trailed teammate Sydney Thorvaldson (5:06.8) at the mile, and then pulled even at 3.5k. Thorvaldson finished second in the race with a 16:44.1 while Arkansas also claimed third and fourth place with the tandem of Laura Taborda and Heidi Nielson, who finished in 16:49.8 and 16:56.9, respectively.
OU’s redshirt senior Nicholas Young secured the men’s squad’s top finish, grabbing 17th place with a time of 24:45.2, while junior Gabi Barrera earned the women’s top performance placing 27th, clocking in at 17:45.8.
Thirteen different Oral Roberts Golden Eagles recorded season-bests as the men finished in a tie for 18th place with 484 points, while the women finished 19th with 523 points.
Alex Leshan Ntiyani led the men’s side as the senior placed 38th after finishing with a season-best time of 25:20.7.
Avery Mazzei led the ORU women for the third consecutive meet as the sophomore recorded a time of 18:24.4, which marked a season-best.
Macey Penner set a personal-best after racing to a time of 18:45.2.
Rushell Johnson, Deborah Mazzei, Emily Coffey, Lillian Woolery, Hannah Vanderburg, Jayda Kelly, Erik Flores Burciaga, Patrick Kipkemboi, Jaxson Brooks and Jonah Marvine all recorded season-bests on the afternoon for ORU.
