Tiger men win fourth straight meet, women win as well

Getting an opportunity to compete on its home course, the Cowley College cross country teams continued its impressive performances by dominating the field at the Tiger Cross Country Invite held Friday at Camp Quaker Haven in Arkansas City.

The Tiger men accumulated a perfect team score in winning its fourth straight meet. Sophomore Daniel Maina won his third straight race with a course record time of 14:44 in the 5K race. Stanley Mugo (15:04), Jonathon Cherono (15:08), Johnny Purvis (15:55), and Brett Koehn (16:13) finished second through fifth,  respectively, as Cowley runners garnered the top-five places. Mauricio Morales (16:17) also ran well as he placed seventh.

“Those top-four all ran as expected, but the runner of the meet was Brett Koehn, he ran a great race,” Cowley head coach Mark Phillips said. “Mo (Morales) also ran well. I am very excited about how our guys are running right now.”

With six of the top-seven runners in the race, Cowley had a perfect team score of 15, while Garden City was second with 52 points.

The Lady Tigers had the top-three finishers in the women’s race as Irene Kosgei won her third straight race with a course record time of 11:32. Jeniffer Cherono (12:02) and Jessica McLeod (12:16) overcame illness to place second and third, respectively.

After battling an Achilles injury for a year and a half, Phillips is glad to see Kosgei run pain free.

“It’s really fun to watch her run this good, she’s just doing great,” Phillips said. “Jeniffer and Jessica also ran really well considering where they were physically.”

Ashley Cronin (12:46) and Christy Buller (12:55) also gave good performances as they placed sixth and seventh, respectively. The Lady Tigers finished with 19 team points, far outdistancing second place Garden City, which finished with 38 points.

“I didn’t expect our girls to beat Garden City that easily,” Phillips said.

The Tiger cross country teams will be back in action Friday when they take part in the Ollie Isom Invitational in El Dorado.

“This will be strictly a tune-up for regionals,” Phillips said. “You wont see our top runners at Butler, our main focus is regionals.”

Cowley men’s results: (1) Maina, 14:44; (2) Mugo, 15:04; (3) Cherono, 15:08; (4) Pervis, 15:55; (5) Koehn, 16:13; (7) Morales, 16:17; (11) Justin Cacaro, 16:54; (13) Gilbert Manzanres, 17:04; (23) Tristan Wall, 17:36; (25) Harrison Philp, 17:40.

Cowley women’s results: (1) Kosgei, 11:32; (2) Cherono, 12:02; (3) McLeod, 12:16; (6) Ashley Cronin, 12:46; (7) Christy Buller, 12:55; (10) Bethany Schmidt, 13:22; (12) Janee’ Gabbard, 14:08;  (13) Kari Rinehart, 14:13; (14) Hannah Burr, 14:16; (15) Dawn Zimmerman, 14:49.

Men’s team scores: (1) Cowley, 15; (2) Garden City, 52; (3) Coffeyville, 74; (4) Barton County and Neosho County, no team scores.

Women’s team scores: (1) Cowley, 19; (2) Garden City, 38; (3) Barton County, no team score.