Tulsa cross country emerges victorious in both men’s and women’s races.
Coming off a strong showing at the Hurricane Invitational, Tulsa Cross Country had momentum going into their next meet. Saturday, September 15, the men’s and women’s teams traveled to Joplin, Missouri to compete in the Missouri Southern Stampede. The men competed against 34 teams in a 10K race after the women raced in a 5K against 27.
The Tulsa women started off strong in the pack. Reagan Hausmann and Caitlin Klopfer led the entire race side by side, with Claire Mccune not far behind in 6th place. The ladies led with ease and continued to increase the distance between themselves and their opponents, who trailed behind. As they pulled farther ahead, the next five Golden Hurricane racers continued to catch up to more and more racers ahead of them. Hausmann came down the last straight in 1st place and finished in 17 minutes and 26 seconds, with Klopfer behind her at 17 minutes and 33.0 seconds. Caroline Miller trailed her in 5th place at 17 minutes and 46.6 seconds. Pulling up the rear was Alyssa Bolliger in 8th place and Alice Newcombe, the 5th runner for Tulsa, in 17th for some final points for TU.
There was no question that the girls had crushed the 5K course and claimed victory over all 27 teams. Tulsa’s final score was 33 total points, 77 ahead of Missouri State in second place and the Oklahoma Baptist with 160 behind them. The ladies claimed victory, building upon the momentum they already had.
By the time the Tulsa men took to the starting line, the sun was boiling directly above the 34 teams. The team had to run their six miles in the blazing heat through open fields. They raced several runners and started off strong. Scott Beattie and Isaac Akers lead the entire race. The two Tulsa runners were unmatched, but the TU coaches had to implement strategy in a race of less importance, but lots of heat. Somewhere between four and five miles, Beattie and Akers were pulled out in order to keep them from overheating and save them for future races.
Washburn and Missouri Southern then took the lead, but Tulsa was nowhere near out of this race. Peter Lynch came in clutch for Tulsa and finished 3rd place overall in 24 minutes and 56.2 seconds. Austin Del Rosso for TU came down the final straight in 9th place in 25 minutes and 22.8 seconds. Right Behind him, in 13th and 14th place were Adam Breaux and Cameron Field in 25 minutes and 30 seconds for Breaux, and 25 minutes and 36 seconds for Field. Fifth runner for the Tulsa men was Robert Tully, who finished 24th overall in 25 minutes and 56.2 seconds. Reed Sahadevan and Mark Middleton of Tulsa were pushing teams farther back in scores as they pulled in closely behind Tully.
Tulsa men finished in 1st place overall with a final team score of 59, keeping 18 points between them and Missouri Southern in 2nd place. Even pulling their top two runners, they were able to keep a very comfortable victory in this meet. Both teams put up some great times and took home lots of hardware from their races. But the focus is not in the Missouri Southern Stampede, but rather on the Nuttycombe in Wisconsin, in just two weeks.
