Lopers 5th & 10th in Large Missouri Race; Bach 3rd

Men's Cross Country 9/18/2021 11:54:00 AM

Lopers 5th & 10th in Large Missouri Race; Bach 3rd

Kearney, Neb. - The nationally-ranked Nebraska-Kearney cross country teams placed fifth (men) and 10th (women) at the annual Missouri Southern Stampede Saturday in Joplin.

This meet featured high school, college (junior college, NAIA and Division III) and university (Division II and I) races. The University men's race was an 8k with the women running a 5k.

Newcomer and Gonzaga transfer Myles Bach (Cedar Rapids, Ia.) led UNK with a third place effort. He turned in a 24:39.05 to trail only Ryan Riddle (24:14) and JP Rutledge (24:23.16) of home standing MSSU. The men's field consisted of nearly 260 runners.

In the team race Pittsburg State (53 points) won with sixth-ranked MSSU the runner up (74) and St. Mary of Kansas, ranked 4th in the NAIA, third (95). Next, was 28th-ranked Mississippi College (102) and the 26th-ranked Lopers (120). Among the teams UNK came in ahead of was MIAA rivals Central Missouri, Emporia State and Washburn as well as Central Region foe East Central (Okla.).

The 30th-ranked women tallied 272 points to be 10th out of 26. UNK beat No. 29 Mississippi College and regionally ranked Oklahoma Baptist and Washburn. Arkansas (38) won by nearly 100 points with No. 12 Southwest Baptist second (130) and 22nd-ranked Dallas Baptist third (140).

Besides Bach, McCool Junction redshirt junior Luke Stuckey came in eighth (24:59.58) and Ainsworth redshirt sophomore Ben Arens was 12th (25:03.86). The final two Loper scorers were Surprise redshirt junior Eli Frasher (48; 26:14.74) and Lincoln redshirt junior Masen Louviere (49: 26:15.26).

The Loper women finished strong with its top four finishers between 35-65 points. They were Iowa senior Maddie Bach (18:11.7), Kearney redshirt freshman Grace Bonsall (18:18.9), Comstock redshirt senior Zoe Ritz (18:22.6) and Imperial senior Destiny Reinke (18:43.8).

West Texas A&M had the top two finishers in Florance Uwajeneza (16:43.6) and Eleonora Curtabbi (16:44.9). Finally, Hooper redshirt freshman Elizabeth Polk was UNK's final scorer (79 points), turning in a 18:58.7.

UNK heads to Sioux City for the Briar Cliff Invite on Oct. 1.

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Players Mentioned

Maddie Bach: Redshirt Senior

Grace Bonsall: Redshirt Freshman

Elizabeth Polk: Redshirt Freshman

Destiny Reinke: Redshirt Senior

Zoe Ritz: Redshirt Senior

Ben Arens: Redshirt Sophomore

Eli Frasher: Redshirt Junior

Masen Louviere: Redshirt Junior

Luke Stuckey: Redshirt Junior

Myles Bach: Redshirt Freshman

Players Mentioned

Maddie Bach
: Redshirt Senior

Grace Bonsall
: Redshirt Freshman

Elizabeth Polk
: Redshirt Freshman

Destiny Reinke
: Redshirt Senior

Zoe Ritz
: Redshirt Senior

Ben Arens
: Redshirt Sophomore

Eli Frasher
: Redshirt Junior

Masen Louviere
: Redshirt Junior

Luke Stuckey
: Redshirt Junior

Myles Bach
: Redshirt Freshman