WKU’s men’s and women’s Cross-Country teams participated in their first race of the 2023-year Friday.
The Hilltopper women’s team placed seventh and the men’s team placed eighth in their matches at the Belmont Opener in Nashville, TN.
Freshman Kinley Kunkel led the women’s squad with a time of 19:43.6, placing 44th out of the 114 women runners. Freshman Keelin Elmer followed with a time of 19:58.1, finishing 48th. Senior Lucy Rutherford, finished right behind Elmer in 50th place with a time of 20:04.4.
Freshman Jared Sandfoss led the men’s squad of runners with a time of 16:08.6, placing 37th out of 118 runners. Fellow freshman Trevor Hudnall placed 69th with a time of 16:45.7. Sophomore Wade Balcom placed 71st with a time of 16:48 for the men’s squad.
“Nice job of Freshman Kinley Kunkel and Keelin Elmer leading the way for women and Freshman Jared Sandfoss for men,” Head Coach Ron Becht said. “It’s early, so we will continue to work hard to improve over the next several weeks.”
WKU’s Cross Country team will compete on home turf, September 15, in the WKU Invitational.
Sports reporter Morgan Larkins can be found at [email protected]
