MARION, IN – In their first true test of the season the Tigers came to race with the best in the country at the Indiana Wesleyan Twilight Friday evening with eight different PR's.
Young talent was the main story for the team in their first 8K of the season. Three freshmen placed themselves inside the top seven harriers for the Tigers including
Dakota Brady,
Lukas Smithson, and Sam Bennett.
Shawn Little, Brady, and
Sam Kiser led the team finishing within four seconds of each other.
Little ran a lifetime best when he placed 17
th with a new top ten time of 25:51. Brady is the first true freshmen since Bret Crawford to jump into the 25's with a time of 25:54.5. Brady's time is also the fastest debut for a freshman at the 8K distance for the Tigers. Kiser came in close behind Brady finishing just outside the top 20 placing 21
st with his time of 25:55.7.
Smithson was able to place himself in the Tigers top five scorers with his 35
th place time of 26:25.90. Rounding out the Tigers top five was rounded out by
Collin Sheffield. Sheffield placed 50
th with his new PR of 26:51.80.
The sixth and seventh man kept close to the Tigers front five runners. Fifth year senior
Jacob Hamilton placed 48
th with a season best time of 26:51.8. Freshmen Sam Bennett was the final freshmen and the final in the top seven. Bennett placed 54
th with a time of 26:56.6
The Tigers were able to get their 1-5 spread to a season low time of 1:00.8. The teams average time of 26:11 jumps to the third best time in program history. That time sits behind 2015's NCCAA Championship team time of 26:08.
"Overall for the first 8K I was pleased," said Coach Harris. "It was a good start and a lot of room to grow throughout the season."
Other Tigers who competed Friday night:
Jarrett Crawford – 27:21.1 (67
th)
Aiden Tucker – 28:16.8 (95
th)
Ian McAninch – 28:41.5 PR (115
th)
Alex Steen – 29:08.5 PR (125
th)
Ben Graf – 30:01.7 PR (147
th)
Brandon Irvin – 30:47.8 PR (152
nd)
Mack Mullenhour – 35:26.6 (172
nd)
The meet presented a lot of top 25 talent. Indiana Wesleyan won the meet with a low team score of 42. Campbellsville was able to place sixth overall with a team score of 137. Each team in front of the Tigers was ranked inside the top 25.
The Tigers are scheduled to jump back into action next Friday night at the MSC Preview Meet where they will see the conference course layout.
