CLINTON, Miss. -- The Mississippi College men's and women's programs defended their team titles at The Opener, a season opener event hosted by Mississippi College.
On a hot, muddy day, the women swept spots 4-8 to score 20 points, 31 points ahead of second-place William Carey University. Their scoring five had a 5K average of 19:36, as well as a 14-second spread.
The Lady Choctaws were led by
Jazmin Hernandez, who ran a conservative 19:28.
Right behind Hernandez was
Kathy Hammond, who rounded out the top five in a time of 19:31.
Lastly, the trio of
Lauren Wallace,
Emily Berry, and
Bre Bell worked together to finish in sixth, seventh, and eighth overall, respectively.
The Mississippi College men's cross country team followed suit and lived up to the hype.
Led by 8K school record holder
Hunter Kurz who took the overall individual title, the Choctaws went 1-2-3-5-6, placing five inside of the top six to display of dominant performance of 17 points, 51 points ahead of the second-place team, William Carey University.
Kurz took the win in 15:25.14, followed closely by
Brock Kelly and
Gabe Poulin in 15:32.87 and 15:34.28, respectively.
Cole Benoit and
Christian Balcer rounded out the scoring five, placing fifth and sixth place overall.
"The game plan was to stay together as long as possible, talking and giving each other fist bumps along the way," pronounced Kurz after the race. "That's what we do at Mississippi College - We have a good time with it."
Next for Mississippi College cross country is the North Alabama Showcase to be held in Huntsville, Ala., on Friday, Sept. 15.
"Training and racing with these guys... I wouldn't trade it for the world."
- Hunter Kurz
RESULTS:
Men's 5K
Women's 5K
