JOPLIN, Mo. – Southern Arkansas competed in the 29th Annual Southern Stampede on Saturday.
Senior Lane Alexander was the top finisher for the Muleriders as he led 11 other of his teammates across the finish line with a 62nd place performance in the team’s first 8K of the season.
Alexander just finished the course in under 27 minutes as he posted a time of 26:59.5.
Senior Josue Lopez notched a career-best 8K time of 28:37.3; 25 seconds faster than his previous 8K best.
Five Muleriders ran in their first collegiate 8K after opening the season two weeks ago with a 4-mile run at the UCO Land Run.
The top freshman finisher for the SAU men was Evan Delgado who placed 137th with a time of 28:15.5.
Freshman Ivan Solis crossed the line next just nine seconds back of his classmate Delgado.
Sophomore Carley Hale guided the Lady Muleriders, recording her first sub-20 minute 5K time of her young career, eight other Mulerider Women posted faster times than their season-opening 5K performances two weeks earlier, and Southern Arkansas performed 14 seconds faster overall as a team.
All nine SAU women runners posted faster 5K times than their season-opening performances at the UCO Land Run two weeks ago.
Hale was the top finisher for the SAU Women for the second-straight meet. Hale placed 77th of 322 runners in a career-best 5K time of 19:21.4.
Hale’s time on Saturday morning was 1:12.1 better than her time in the meet last season.
For the second time in as many meets, freshmen runners Chantaya Griffin and Cecilia Quesada finished as point-scoring runners for the Mulerider Women with Griffin crossing the line as the second-fastest runner in a time of 20:06.2.
SAU prepares for the highly-competitive Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, on Saturday. The event is hosted by the University of Arkansas and it will mark the sixth straight year that SAU will run in the northwest Arkansas meet.