FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Junior Reed Fischer (Minnetonka, Minn.) and senior Emma Huston (Des Moines, Iowa) both recorded top-10 finishes Saturday to lead the Drake University cross country teams at the Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, Ark.

“For both teams, this was a great 'big meet' experience that will pay off at the end of the year,” said Drake head coach Dan Hostager. 

Huston paced the women's team again by finishing ninth on the 5-kilometer course in 16:48.09. That finish was more than a half-minute improvement on her previous 5k best. Krista Maguire (Wausau, Wis.) finished 12 seconds behind Huston in 17:00.63 with a 35-second personal best for the senior. 

Taylor Scholl (Prior Lake, Minn.) and Bailee Cofer (Overland Park, Kan.) finished in 55th and 99th, respectively,  to help propel the team to a sixth-place finish out of 17 teams in the women's standings. The Bulldogs finished ahead of Southern Miss, LSU and Baylor. Arkansas won the women's team title in their home event.

“The women competed extremely well and many came out with new PRs,” Hostager said. “It was great to compete with and beat some teams from the likes of the SEC."

Fischer, the reigning MVC Cross Country Athlete of Week, finished sixth in the men's 8-kilometer race with a time of 23:43.61, nearly two minutes faster than his previous 8k best.  Fischer was less than 13 seconds off the winning pace of 23:30.90 set by Tulsa's Marc Scott in the 466-runner race. 

Chris Kaminski (New Lenox, Ill.) and George Webb (Morton Grove, Ill.)were the next Bulldogs across the finish line in 174th and 175th place, respectively, with times of 26:13.59 and 26:14.54. As team, the Bulldogs' men's team finished 12th out of 15 teams, just one spot behind LSU. Host Arkansas won the team title.

“We were missing out two senior leaders on the men's side, but the rest of the team stepped up so we were able to come out with a few PRs, “Hostager said. “I feel like we're in a great spot for the rest of the season."