#11 Mustangs to Get Taste of the Big-Time in Kansas
No. 11 Midwestern State gets its chance to run with the big programs Saturday at
the Rimrock Farm Collegiate Classic hosted by the University of
Kansas.
"I'm excited for this meet," MSU coach Koby Styles said. "The
course is an historic course that has hosted some national championship meets.
I've heard it's tough but you're able to run fast. That falls in pretty well
with the way we train. The tougher the course, the better we run."
The
16-team field includes a pair of ranked Division I squads in No. 11 Michigan and
No. 22 Toledo joining a deep grouping from the NCAA's top divisions including
Air Force, Indiana, Kansas, Kansas State, Nebraska, New Mexico State, Texas Tech
and UMKC.
The remainder of the field includes Hannibal-LaGrange, Haskell
Indian Nations, Iowa Western CC, McPherson and the only other Division II team
in Regis (Colo.).
"Going to these meets and facing some really stiff
competition really sets us up for conference, regionals and nationals," Styles
said.
Midwestern State's top traveling squad took a fourth-place showing
two weeks ago at the Missouri Southern Stampede. The Mustangs are keenly aware
of fixing its trouble area of tightening its gap time between Nos. 4 and
5.
"This squad is very different than where we were in Missouri," Styles
said. "The last few weeks of workouts have gone very well. We need to be more
aggressive from the start of the race and we've got to go out there and find
that breaking point for each one of them and find out what we're made
of."
MSU is paced by junior front runners Ashley Flores and Janel
Campbell while twins Michelle and Kim Krezonoski give the Mustangs solid
contributors at the Nos. 3 and 4 positions while the fifth counter remains a
battle.
"The good thing about this team is that every meet there's been
a different (fifth runner) emerge," Styles said. "(The top four) have been
constant then we have someone step up. Right now, Maira (Salinas) is working her
way up there and Tylo (Farrar) has also been working hard to get up there. The
important thing is that we've got to close the gap with the top four. If we can
do that, we'll shock some big programs this weekend. We haven't seen our best
day and I'm excited to watch them run."
This week's travel squad
includes Flores, Campbell, Michelle Krezonoski, Kim Krezonoski, Salinas, Farrar,
Brittany Adams, Abigail Gonzalez, Alex Kohrs and Ana Lopez.
Majed Named LSC Runner of the Week
Midwestern State's Nadia Majed claimed Lone Star Conference Runner of the Week
honors Thursday afternoon when league officials announced the weekly
awards.
The 5-7 senior from Tulsa, Okla. clocked a season-best 5K time
of 20:08.61 to take third in the Third Annual Ram Ramble last weekend in Fort
Worth.
The transfer from Oklahoma Baptist led MSU's No. 2 travel squad
to a 28-point showing to claim the meet championship by outdistancing the
University of Dallas which finished with 35 points.
It's the third week
a Midwestern runner has claimed the weekly honor. Junior front runner Ashley
Flores earned the accolade for the weeks of Sep. 6 and 20.
The Mustangs
maintain a No. 11 national ranking and are currently rated third in the South
Central Region by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches'
Association.
Midwestern State competes in the 6K Rimrock Farm Collegiate
Classic hosted by the University of Kansas Saturday in Lawrence.
