Cross Country Competes at Chile Pepper Festival
SNU Athletics
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Since 1988, the Chile Pepper Festival has been a fixture of the collegiate cross country schedule. Hosted by the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas, the festival has grown to include two different collegiate 8K races for men's cross country teams and two different 5K events for the women. The Festival celebrated its 31st edition on Saturday, and the Southern Nazarene University men's and women's teams both participated in the second heats of their respective events.
SNU's men ran first, posting a team score of 827 to take a 30th place finish in the race, while the women scored a 725 and finished 32nd as a team.
Zach McAlpin was the first SNU runner to cross the finish line in the men's race. He passed 12 runners in the final 2.5 kilometers of the event, posting a 109th place finish in the field of more than 350 entrants. McAlpin crossed the line in a time of 27:51.6. Jose Pena finished the race in 28:12.7, Taylor Hawkins crossed the line in 29:50.1, Jesujoba Fabiyi finished in 29:54.5, and Garrison Bluhm rounded out SNU's scoring runners in a time of 30:34.0. Christian Escrit (31.05.2) and Jeremiah Martinez (31:10.6) were SNU's displacers, and Abesolom Mekuria finished as an individual in a final time of 31:34.1.
On the women's side, Sabbatha Taylor posted another strong finish. She placed in the top-50 of the women's event, with 351 runners finishing the race, and she did so in a time of 19:31.9. Madalyn Harper finished the race in 20:55.6, Emma Green in 21:16.9, Olivia Cavanaugh posted a time of 22:00.9, and Rachel Hurtz was the last scoring runner for SNU, as she crossed the line in 22:52.8. SNU's displacers on the women's side were Lauryn Downs (24:04.6) and Rebecca Warden (25:03.4).
SNU will run their final regular season event next Saturday in Shawnee, Oklahoma. The Crimson Storm will take part in the Oklahoma Baptist University Invitational. The Races will begin at 8 a.m.
