FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Drake University men's and women's cross country teams returned to action on Saturday, Oct. 1, as the young Bulldogs gained valuable experience at one of the biggest meets in the nation at the Chile Pepper Festival.
The race featured competitors from 65 schools across 17 states in the largest collegiate field in the history of the venerable event. The Bulldog men's team finished 12th out of all NCAA Division I teams while the Drake women's team was 13th. Arkansas claimed both the men's and women's team titles.
"I'm very proud of how well our freshmen competed on the men's side in their first 8k, especially against so many nationally ranked teams," said Drake head coach Dan Hostager. "On the women's side, nearly everyone was able to come out with a 5k personal best, so we're excited for our bigger meets ahead."
Reed Fischer (Minnetonka, Minn.) led the men's team again, scoring in sixth place, ahead of reigning All-Americans, with an 8-kilometer time of 23:53.25 against a field that included more than 300 competitors. Fischer was just 20 seconds off the winning pace.
"Reed ran very well in a tough nation-wide field and to finish where he did at this point in the season is a great indicator of what is ahead for him in the coming weeks," Hostager added.
Two of the Bulldogs' next top three scorers were freshman as Kyle Brandt (Maple Grove, Minn.) was 63rd in 25:46.13 while Kyle Cass (Deforest, Wis.) was 76th.
Bailee Cofer (Overland Park, Kan.) continued her strong junior season by scoring in 25th to lead the women's team.
"Nearly half of our team is made up of freshman and it's great to have some tremendous leadership from our upperclassmen like Bailee," Hostager added.
Cofer completed the 5-kilometer circuit in 17:40.57 and was followed by a trio of freshmen in the top scorers 100 for the Bulldogs.
Mykaela Cole (Urbandale, Iowa) turned in a 45th place finish in her biggest collegiate race to date while Morgan Garcia and Olivia Rogers (Boulder, Colo.) were 72nd and 98th, respectively.
With the MVC Championship quickly approaching at the end of the month, the Bulldogs will train for two weeks in advance of their next competition, the adidas Pre-National Invitational on Oct. 15.
2016 Chile Pepper Festival
Oct. 1 – Fayetteville, Ark.
Drake Men's Individual Results – 8 kilometers
Scoring finishes
6. Reed Fischer, 23:53.25
63. Kyle Brandt, 25:46.13
76. Chris Kaminski, 26:05.39
78. Kyle Cass, 26:09.37
92. Josh Yeager, 26:30.36
98. Matt Cozine, 26:38.1
111. George Webb, 27:03.11
126. Alec Bognar, 28:49
Drake Women's Individual Results – 5 kilometers
Scoring finishes
25. Bailee Cofer, 17:40.57
45. Mykaela Cole, 18:11.07
72. Morgan Garcia, 18:45.4
98. Olivia Rogers, 19:18.5
100. Meghan Kearney, 19:21.22
109. Paige Nicholson, 19:37.94
111. Kayla Giuliano. 19:52.93
112. Theresa McAlister, 19:54.91
115. Shelby Varney, 19:59.66
