Hillcat Cross Country Opens Season at UCO Land Run

Brandon Payne led the Cats with a 12th place finish. (Photo by Candid Color)

Box Score

EDMOND, Okla.- The Rogers State men’s and women’s cross country teams started the 2012 season with top three finishes at the UCO Land Run on Saturday.

The women registered a second place finish as they collected a team score of 72. Sooner Athletic Conference foe Oklahoma Baptist earned the team title.

Freshman Haley Taylor paced the Hillcats women in the 5K race as she tallied a ninth place finished with a time of 19:25.

Brenda Felipe followed with an 11^th place finish in 19:28 and Christi Dougherty registered a 15^th place with a time of 19:41.

Coree Lenhart and Maria Apolinar rounded out the top five placing 23^rd and 26^th respectively.

The RSU men registered 85 points for a third place finish in the four-mile race. The 2011 defending NAIA National Champions Oklahoma Christian earned the top spot on the men’s side.

Brandon Payne led the Cats with a 12^th place finish in 21:07. Chandler Smith and Oscar Reyes finished 21^st and 22^nd respectively with a time of 21:35.

A pair of freshmen rounded out the top five as Logan Blackburn ran the race in 21:47 and placed 27^th while Garrett Dyson placed 33^rd with a time of 22:03.

Rogers State will return to action on September 15^th as the Cats travel to Missouri Southern in Joplin for the Southern Stampede. The women’s race begins at 8 a.m. and the men follow at 9 a.m.