Broncbuster cross country team competes at Greeno/Dirksen Invite

Lincoln, NEB-The Broncbuster cross country team competed in the Greeno/Dirksen Invite hosted by the University of Nebraska and Nebraska Wesleyan.

"Coming to a meet like this had a lot of value for our athletes," Head Coach, Chris Creal said. "Not only was it to experience high end competition but a chance to prepare for what we will go up against in the near future. I believe we are a competitive program at the national level and want our student athletes to be prepared to compete at that level."

The men started off the rainy day battling with some of the best programs in the Midwest on the rolling hill course.  Kelvin Cheruiyot led the Broncbusters in his first race of the season, placing 43rd in the 318-person field with a time 25:23.6.  Jose "Froy" Ruiz placed 194th with a time of 28:17.1; the 3rd best performance of his career.  Matt Veloz made a huge move for the Broncbusters placing 218th as well as running a time of 28:54.2, nearly a minute improvement.  Zaccerie Penka placed 224th with a time of 29:06.5.  Daniel Aguilar matched his personal best time of 29:50.2, placing 244th. Ricardo Mijares ran a new personal best of 30:09.3, placing 253rd.  Rosalio Ruiz rounded off the Broncbusters team scoring with a 266th place finish, running 30:54.6.  Daegan VanPelt placed 279th in his college debut, running 31:32.6.  Edgar Ruiz ran 33:43.4, good enough for 298th place.  The mens team took 15th out of 21 teams with 422 points.

The Women took to the course after the men's race and battled on the beat up terrain.  Shareen Cheruiyot led the Broncbusters, placing 55th overall in the 308-person field; with a time of 18:58.7.  Her performance puts her second on the all-time list in school history for the 5k.  Valentine Lagat placed 118th with a time of 20:01.8. Jania Don Juan took 247th with a time of 23:02.7.  Despite waking up sick, Freshman Sara Chapa battled for the team and placed 254th with a time of 23:18.4.  Taylor Thorp place 260th with a time of 23:27.5, which was her 2nd best performance of her career.  Andrea Serrano placed 287th with a time of 25:11.5.  Rebecca Potts rounded out the teams scoring with a 291st place finish, clocking in a time of 25:43.4.
The women's team placed 14th out of 19 teams with a score of 365 points.

"We competed well and walked away placed ahead of some solid programs," Creal added. "We learned a lot from this experience and are looking forward to getting back to work to be ready for the next big meet!"