Friday, November 11, 2011

Trojans Heading to NAIA Nationals

Breanna Newton and Philiph Tonui have both qualified for the NAIA Cross Country National Championships.

Newton ran a great conference race to qualify, running a time of 19:57 for the 5k race finishing in sixth place. This will be Breanna's second time at the National meet.

Tonui will be making his third trip to Nationals after finishing eighth at the conference meet with a time of 26:03. 
The National Championships will be held on November 19 in Vancouver, Washington.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Trojans Last Tune Up Before Conference

The Trojans traveled to Lamoni, Iowa for the Graceland University Invite to run in their last regular season race of the fall.  On a tough hilly course with a long turns, the Trojans came away with a lot of confidence and a great showing.

 The Lady Trojans put three women in the top 15 and were one of only two teams to do that. With strong pack running; Breanne Newton (10th) 20:18, Mandi Riddle (14th) 20:25 and Nicole Griesbaum (15th) 20:25, the women finished within 5 places of each other. The top 5 for the ladies was wrapped up by freshman Jennifer Yoder (30th) 21:28 and Sarah Erickson(34th) 21:37. The ladies finished in 5th place as a team and ran a great race.

On the men's side, it was a day full of surprises. Lead once again by Phillip Tonui's strong second place finish, the Trojans surprised the field and ran to a third place finish as a team. The Trojans placed two runners in the top twenty ; Philiph (2nd) 26:07 and John Bedsworth (19th) 28:42. Next for the Trojans came, Troy Pace(21) 29:01;  Zach Lewis (26) 29:29; Brett Jones (28) 29:37. Rounding out the men's team was a gutsy performance by Tyler Malone who finished right behind Brett Jones. Tyler ended the race with some lower leg pain and will see the doctor this week. Please pray for him. The next race for the Trojans is the AMC Conference meet and a chance at nationals on November 5th. The race is at Forest Park so if you are in the St. Louis area come cheer on the Trojans.