Murray State University Athletics
Cross Country to Open Season at Saluki Invite
8/29/2018 4:21:00 PM | Men's Cross Country
The Murray State men's and women's cross country teams will toe the starting line for the first time this season, Friday evening, when they travel to Carbondale, Illinois to run in the Saluki Invite on the last day of August.
The meet begins with the men's race at 5:30 p.m. followed by the women's race at 6:15 p.m. The five-team field features regional foes Southern Illinois, SIUE, Austin Peay and Southeast Missouri.
"Coach [Jordan] Wallace has done a great job with this group of student-athletes. She has really put her stamp on the program with her style of coaching and training that the student-athletes really believe in," said Head Coach Adam Kiesler. "This weekend will be the start of a great year that we think will culminate into big things come the OVC Championship meet in October."
The men return six runners, led by senior Vince Turner, who is the highest returning finisher from last season's OVC Championship meet, where he ran a personal best time of 26:02.5.
While Turner is the only senior on the team, the Racers return three juniors, Zach Balleau, Tyler Bradley, and Zan McClelland and two sophomores, Caleb Kawasaki and Mayer Makemson. They will all be asked to replace the production that the team lost from their top performers from 2017, Mark Ventura and Gavin Galanes, who both graduated.
Murray State also welcomes two freshmen, Jordan Higgins from Calloway County High School in Murray and Christian Slone from Campbell County High School in Alexandria, Kentucky.
"This group has put a lot of work in over the summer and the first few weeks of training has shown that," said Kiesler. "With the departure of our number one and two from last year, we look forward to who is going to step up and take on those roles."
The women also return six runners from last season's team, while adding eight newcomers. Seniors Rebekah Priddy and Ida Mutai are the Racers' top two returning runners and will be counted on to provide the same level of results as well as be leaders of a very young team.
"With only two athletes returning who were in our top five last year at the OVC Championship meet it will be a fun year with a lot of new faces. I believe this group is eager to compete and see where they stack up against the competition after three weeks of training back on campus," said Kiesler. With great senior leadership in Bekah Priddy I think this weekend will be the start of something special during this year's cross country season."
Along with Priddy, Hillary McAdam is the other runner who finished in the top five at the 2017 OVC championship meet, running a personal best 19:00.3 in the 5K. The Racers also return juniors Katelyn Gilbert and Amanda Parker as well as sophomore Mallory Unverfehrt.
Aubrey Main joins the cross country team as a senior after being a member of the track & field program the last three seasons. Redshirt sophomore Jessikha Riberio also joins the team this year after transferring in from American International College.
Nearly half the team are freshmen as Emma Creviston, Meghan Easton, Sophie Grogan, Shannon Riley, Morgan Vosler, and Dani Wright will all make their collegiate debuts, Friday evening.
