At the midway point of the 2019 cross-country season, the Kansas men’s and women’s teams on Saturday morning took to the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in ?Terre Haute, Ind., where the Jayhawks went up against some of top individuals, and teams, from across the nation.
For the third time this season, sophomore Ally Ryan led the women’s team by crossing the finish line with a time of 21:44.3, good for a 129th-place finish out of 252 total runners in the field. The women placed 36th overall as a team in the Blue Race.
Freshman Chandler Gibbens led the KU men to a 19th-place finish out of 38 teams in their division. Gibbens crossed the finish line in 21:14.2, which made him 33rd individually. Not too far behind was junior teammate Ben Butler, who was 41st with a time of 24:21.8.
Back on the course later in the day, Kansas had representatives in both the women’s 6K and men’s 8K Open races. Sophomores Sarah Scott and Alexys Barton were among the top 50 finishers with their times of 23:04.4 and 23:18.9. Those times placed them 43rd and 49th, respectively, in the women’s race. Shortly thereafter, Kansas junior George Letner led the way for the men with his top-10 placement. He crossed the finish line in 25:14.9 to claim 10th place.
Kansas cross country has a weekend off before competing in the 24th annual Big 12 Cross Country Championship, which takes place Nov. 2, at Cottonwood Creek Golf Club in Waco, Texas.
