Scots Cross Country Opens Season with Record Performance

by Dan Nolan

Monmouth, IL (08/31/2019) — Monmouth's men and women turned in third-place finishes Friday at the season-opening Illinois Wesleyan Cross Country Opener where the Scots' men turned in record times.

Griff Morrill and Riley Dulin were just over a second apart to finish 2-3 with a 15:48.50 and 15:49.94, respectively over the 5K course. Their separation ranks as the closest finish among Monmouth's top two runners at that distance in program history. Morrill finished less than three seconds out of first.

Shay Haffner placed 24th in 17:00.07 and Tanner Heiple took 26th with a 17:02.86. Monmouth's fifth runner, Mike Bersell, clocked a 17:36.56 to place 37th. The top five Scots ran a combined 83:15 for the school record total time for a 5K.

Alex Urbina and C.J. Bonifer finished 40th and 41st with times of 17:42.91 and 17:44.44 to give the Scots another program record for 5K. Their 118:45 for the top seven runners is the fastest total time in program history. Gavin Conway (17:55.61), Carlos Miranda (18:10.74), Jonah Cecil (19:26.98) and A.J. Walker (19:33.69) rounded out Monmouth's men.

The Scots' women placed six runners in the top 20 led by Arika Hofmann's sixth-place finish with a time of 12:42.96. Caroline Young was just nine seconds back in 12:51.93 to place eighth. Just one second separated Ezzie Baltierra-Chavez's 11th-place finish of 13:00.41 and No. 13 Mik Moore's 13:01.88. Julia Sterr (13:07.62, 16th) and Kirsten Menke (13:16.41, 20th) finished Monmouth's runners in the top 20.

A 13:28.10 placed Caitlyn Allen just outside the top 20 in 23rd position. Kara Fisher was a half-minute behind in 30th with a 14:07.31, followed by Emma Wohlstadter's 14:49.58 to finish 40th and Teagan McKenna's 15:32.24 (53rd) to complete Monmouth's top 10 runners. Alexis Shields (15:44.16, 56th), Nyasaina Kwamboka (16:40.22, 61st) and Carolina Cruz (16:48.65) rounded out the Scots' women.

Monmouth travels to Grinnell, Iowa, for the Les Duke Invitational on Sept. 14.