VICTORIA, Kan. - The  Friends University men's and women's Cross Country team ran their fourth race of the season this past weekend at the Tiger Open hosted by Fort Hays State University. 

The Falcon women came in third out of 14 teams, while the men finished ninth. Isaac Sprague led the men's team with a 27:48 finish over the 8K course and Christa Follette (JR/Grinnell, Iowa) again led the women in the 5K run with a second place overall finish and a time of 18:46.

"Our ladies continue to run well together as Nicole, Grace, Kara, Kayla, and Bethany continue to press each week on closing the gap that is necessary if we want to make NAIA National Championships in Vancouver, Wash.," Friends head coach Jason Parr said.  

"The women's team had a tough battle this weekend with several KCAC schools that are running well.  The University of St. Mary beat us by two points and the Southwestern ladies were running really strong behind us."

Friends University Results:

WOMEN (5K)

2nd – Christa Follette – 18:48
13th Nicole Ballard (FR/Haviland, Kan.)- 20:02
19th – Grace Aitken – 20:14
24th - Kara Zahariades (FR/Phoenix, Arizona) – 20:23

38th- Kayla Allen (FR/Lewiston, Maine)- 20:48

44th- Bethany Vonada (SR/Shawnee, Kan.)- 20:48
62nd – Payton Reaves (SO/Wichita, Kan.) – 21:17

76th- Tesla Madsen- 21:39

104th- Miranda Tenove (SO/Olathe, Kan.)- 22:27

156th- Londyn Doll- 27:33

MEN (8K)

47th – Isaac Sprague -27:48
102nd– Brett Martin -28:50.7

103rd- Logan White- 28:50.9

126th- Reno Ferris- 29:43

150th- Jonathan Pettyjohn- 30:41

"This weekend was a great challenge for our ladies who had to face a couple of strong and tough KCAC schools like St. Mary and Southwestern," Parr said. "Our conference could possibly have two or three squads ranked in the top 30 in the NAIA.  We have been running against some extremely tough competition the last month, which prepared us to run well against some of our conference foes this weekend."

"Fort Hays has traditionally been a great course.  This year every team dealt with the muddy and very wet course which slows things down.  This course was truly a cross-country race. With the KCAC Championships in less than a month, it was nice to see the men and women competing hard."

Full Team Results:  http://results.tfmeetpro.com/Dennis_Weber/Fort_Hays_State_Open/

The men's cross country squad will be back in action on October 21nd in Winfield, Kansas for the NAIA Mid-States Classic, hosted by conference rival Southwestern College. The Mid-States will be host to some of the top NAIA and Junior College teams in the Midwest, including a large majority of the KCAC. 

The Women's Cross Country Falcons will be off until the KCAC Championships on Nov. 4 in Lindsborg, Kan.