Rio Grande's Duncan Kogei (far left) and Tyler Jenkins (center) finished 38th and 40th, respectively, in Saturday's Gold Division race at the Live in Louisville Fall Classic. The RedStorm finished 15th as a team.

Posted: Oct 05, 2024

RedStorm men post strong showing in Louisville Classic

Rio Grande Sports Information
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of Rio Grande men's cross country team ran with some of the "big boys" on Saturday morning and the RedStorm proved that they belonged.
Head coach Matt Paxton's squad finished 15th in the Gold Division of the Live In Louisville Cross Country Classic at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park.
The 28-team field included 17 NCAA Division I schools and just three NAIA institutions.
Rio Grande, which was ranked No. 13 in the latest NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Poll, finished with 402 points and was top finisher among the NAIA participants.
The University of Michigan won the team crown with 74 points, narrowly edging West Texas A&M (76 pts.) for the top spot. Lee (Tenn.) University was third with 139 points.
"We were one of the last teams placed in the division and we almost finished in the top half," said Paxton. "I think we showed we're one of the top teams in the country. There's only been two guys in the history of the program who ran the 8k faster than our team average of 25:12."
Rio Grande's top finish individually came from freshman Duncan Kogei (Eldoret, Kenya), who was 38th after completing the 8k course in 24:43.
Junior Tyler Jenkins (Barnesville, OH) was close behind, placing 40th in a time of 24:44.
Also representing the RedStorm was senior Danuel Persinger (Glouster, OH), who was 65th in a time of 24:56; sophomore Kasy Science (Marietta, OH), who placed 128th in a time of 25:37; freshman Wes Taylor (Lancaster, OH), who was 163rd after crossing in 25:57; sophomore Ashton Beverly (Chillicothe, OH), who finished 189th in 26:18; freshman Ryder Crawford (Owensville OH), who was 197th in a time of 26:22; junior Mugisha Pomossene (Cincinnati, OH), who placed 205th in a time of 26:30; freshman John Young (Madison, OH), who was 218th with a finish of 26:42; and senior Kyle Lightner (Peebles, OH), who took 241st place after crossing in 27:24.
William Amponsah of West Texas A&M captured the individual title with a time of 23:21.
Rio Grande also sent a contingent of runners to the Ohio Wesleyan University Invitational on Friday at Liberty Park in Powell, Ohio.
The RedStorm's seven-man crew finished 16th in the 22-team competition with 422 points.
The Ohio State Running Club (78 pts.) edged Ashland University (82 pts.) for the top spot, while Case Western Reserve took third with 93 points.
Ashland's Nate Slater recorded the top individual time of 25:23.
The best outing for a RedStorm runner came from freshman Anton Meinlschmidt (Weibeyoke, Germany), who finished 74th in the field of 246 runners with a time of 27:37.0.
Also representing Rio was sophomore JJ Larue (Chillicothe, OH), who was 75th after crossing in 27:37.9; freshman Eli Fliehman (Sabina, OH), who placed 90th in a time of 27:52; freshman David van Kuik (Utrecht, The Netherlands), who was 111th with a mark of 28:11; freshman Caleb Hines (Chillicothe, OH), who was 184th with a time of 29:42; sophomore Nate Taylor (Corning, OH), who placed 224th in 32:29; and freshman Wyatt Webb (Gallipolis, OH), who crossed in a time of 36:36 for 240th place.
Rio Grande is now scheduled to return to action on Saturday, Oct. 18, at the Angel Mounds Invitational in Evansville, Ind.
The RedStorm were originally scheduled to host the college division of the Patty Forgey Invitational on the same date, but event was scrapped due to a low number of registered participants.