GOLDEN SUNS CROSS COUNTRY RUNNERS PLACE FIFTH
OUT OF SEVEN TEAMS IN FRIDAY'S TECH TWILIGHT RUN

        RUSSELLVILLE, Arkansas – Tom Aspel’s Arkansas Tech Golden Suns cross country runners opened their season here Friday night finishing fifth of a possible seven teams as part of the Inaugural Twilight Run held on the campus of Arkansas Tech University.

          Aspel was very pleased with the inaugural Twilight Run.

          “I was very happy with the meet, it was a good course and I could tell the runners ran hard,” said Aspel.  

          The Twilight Run featured competition from three NCAA Division I schools. Those teams included the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, Arkansas State, and Central Arkansas.

          Women’s teams ran two miles, while the men were scheduled for a four mile run.  

          The Golden Suns finished with 119 points which was behind fourth place finisher Hendrix with 101 points. UALR finished at the top with 34 points, UCA second with 53 points and Arkansas State third with 81 points. Lyon and University of Ozarks finished behind Tech with 152 and 201 points, respectively.

          Leading the way for the Golden Suns was freshman Lauren Karnitz (De Soto, Kan.) finishing 12th in the 55 runner field with a time of 12:37.12. Following in 14th for Tech was junior Kayla Waldrup (El Dorado, Ark.) with a time of 12:42.74. Also finishing for Tech was freshman Julie Huie (Clinton, Ark.) at 13:19.14, sophomore Elizabeth Thias (Paris, Ark.) with a time of 15:59.25 and junior Molly Fleming (Ward, Ark.) with the mark of 17:26.73.

          Tech, who was missing three runners, was forced to look for freshman leadership.

          “I wish I could have had everyone out there, because I know where we are, I would just like to see it in the results,” added the Tech coach.

          Atop the list of runners was UALR’s Kata Lovrantova who finished with a time of 11:07.70. UALR’s Whitney Kerth was good enough for a second place finish after taking just 11:08.13 to finish the course.

          The men’s race was also won by UALR, finishing with 23 points. Individually in the men’s race, Ondrej Puskar finished first with a time of 20:05.79. Brandon Griffin, also of UALR finished second with a time of 20:35.05.

          Central Arkansas finished second in the men’s team standings with 58 points. Arkansas State was next with 92 points, followed by Hendrix with 108 points, Lyon with 124 points, and University of Ozarks tallying 187 points.

The Golden Suns cross country runners will be back in action Sept. 15 when they compete in the Missouri Southern Stampede, a 5k race, which will take place in Joplin, Mo.

Women's Results

Men's Results

           -- Tech Athletics --