Men's 10K Results | Women's 6K Results
WICHITA FALLS, Kan. – Sophomore Will Pike and junior Chloe Susset of the Abilene Christian cross country teams each won individual championships Saturday at the Midwestern State Carnival. Pike conquered a challenging course through windy conditions to win the 10K in 34:33.5 while Susset completed her 6K in 22:01.1.
Pike's performance, in addition to a top-10 showing from Erik Forrester, helped the Wildcat men secure a runner-up finish to Eastern New Mexico (33 pts.) with 63 points. The women placed third with 95 points, trailing only Midwestern State (32 pts.) and Dallas Baptist (90 pts.). ACU junior Alyse Goldsmith was third in 22:15.1.
For Susset, a former Lone Star Conference steeplechase champion, today's victory was her first on a cross country course.
“Chloe wants to be one of the conference's elite runners and I think she proved that today by running a smart race,” head coach Chris Woods said. “She and Alyse give us a nice one-two punch heading into the conference meet, but I saw solid running from all our girls from top to bottom, which makes me extremely happy.”
Following Susset and Goldsmith to the finish line for the Wildcats were Ayesha Rumble (16th, 23:54.0), Emily Hill (23rd, 24:35.9) and Rachel Belcher (52nd, 27:30.3). Woods is hoping to see one more of his runners climb into the top 20 at the conference meet in two weeks.
Pike's victory was his first since high school and Woods was very pleased to see him execute their game plan to perfection.
“The leaders went out with a five-minute first mile but Will stayed conservative and went out at 5:25,” Woods said. “I told him not to panic because 10K is a long way and I was able to talk to him the whole race. He was very relaxed and didn't even feel tired at the end.”
Pike's time was 7.8 seconds faster than the rest of the 50-man pack as Gideon Bisienei of Oklahoma Panhandle State placed second in 34:41.3.
For several other Wildcats, today marked their first 10K. It was the first at the collegiate level for
Gary Duncan, and the first ever for Forrister, Marshall Holland and Trey Knight. Forrister's 10th-place time was clocked at 35:43.0, while Fabian Wessel-Terharn and Marshall Holland finished close behind in 14th and 15th with marks of 36:08.4 and 36:11.6.
Duncan and Knight placed among the top-30 with times of 37:12.5 and 37:42.0.
“I feel everything's starting to come together on our men's side and I'm confident going into the conference meet with this group,” said Woods. “I think Eric is going to up there with Will and we might just end up surprising some people.”
The Wildcats have one regular season meet scheduled for Tuesday at Angelo State, where Woods will run, not race, several individuals who are returning from injuries. The race will take place at Red Arroyo in San Angelo.
