Southeast Missouri State University student publication

Cross Country visits Wisconsin ahead of OVC Championship

Sunday, October 21, 2018
Submitted photo.
By Tom Weber

On Saturday, Oct. 13, the Southeast cross country teams headed north for their first time to Madison, Wisconsin, as they competed in the Pre-Nationals at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course.

The women finished 27th out of 36 teams, while the men placed 35th in their race.

Senior Kaitlyn Shea was among the first to finish, with a personal record of 21 minutes, 26.7 seconds.

Heading into the race, Shea said her mind was set on getting herself a personal record.

“It was my first PR since sophomore year, so I was really happy about that,” Shea said.

With an average time of 22:15, the women placed ahead of Big 10 opponent Nebraska, Ohio Valley Conference rival UT Martin and Southern California of the Pac 12.

For the men, junior Griffin Bailey was the top finisher for the Redhawks in the 8K with a time of 26:29.5, while the team averaged 26:50.

The race gave Southeast the opportunity to run against the top teams in the nation.

Bailey recalled lining up with Colorado to the right and Georgia to the left, both being top 10 schools.

“It was pretty exciting. I think seven of the top 10 schools were in our race,” Bailey said. “It was really fast, and we knew it would be fast. We didn’t realize how deep the field was going to be, so I think there were, like, 250 people in our race.”

Shea said she felt the Redhawks maintained their focus despite being surrounded by some of the best runners in the nation.

Focusing on the race as well as the importance of getting out fast and holding that speed were crucial in order to match the competition.

“I just knew it was going to be a fast race and an opportunity to run fast,” Bailey said. “Unfortunately, the race did not go how we wanted it to go, but we are really focused on conference.”

For the first time in 10 years, SEMO will host the 2018 OVC Championship on Saturday, Oct. 27.

Both Shea and Griffin said they are looking forward to running on a course they know well, and are excited with the opportunity to run at home.

“We are all in and everyone is going to go as hard as they can for OVC,” Shea said.

The meet will take place at the Osage Centre, where the women will race at 9 a.m. and the men will follow at 10 a.m.

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