WICHITA – Jake Cruz led the No. 23 ranked Kansas Wesleyan Men's Cross Country team to a fifth place finish at the JK Gold Invitational hosted by Wichita State University on Saturday morning at Clapp Park.
The Coyotes faced a multitude of competition from across all divisions, including Wichita State, Washburn, Fort Hays State, Butler CC, along with conference foes Bethany and Bethel.
Wesleyan was the highest finishing NAIA team at the event, scoring 133 points.
Wichita State led the team finishers with 20 points, followed by Washburn with 89, Fort Hays State with 93, Butler CC with 102. Colby CC was in sixth behind the Coyotes with 165 points.
Cruz finished 25th in the 6K race with a time of 19:41.17 and was the first NAIA athlete across the line in the race.
Damion Jackson finished 28th with a time of 19:47.77,
Wyatt Johnson was 29th in 19:48.42,
Austin Schaeffer was 40th in 20:10.51,
Ty Davidson was 45th in 20:15.63,
Brenden Ellis was 47th in 20:17.81, and
Evan Pearce was 48th in 20:18.04.
Braulio Torres was 65th in 20:40.84,
Landon Steeger was 74th in 21:00.07,
Luke Adams was 80th in 21:07.58,
Ethan Ochana was 82nd in 21:09.18,
Triston Cottone was 83rd in 21:11.66,
Nicolas Martinez was 86th in 21:15.16,
Mauricio Mendez was 88th in 21:16.41,
Jude Nelson was 95th in 21:34.92, and
Ian Doss was 99th in 21:40.99.
Cohen Greve was 103rd in 21:45.92,
Connor Olsen was 110th in 21:59.99,
Brodie Bradshaw was 124th in 22:50.90,
Roman Mai was 125th in 22:51.46,
Barka Bapeng, Jr., was 126th in 22:53.17,
Will Childers was 128th in 22:56.50,
Logan Topp was 134th in 23:29.43, and Efrain Santibenez was 137th in 23:59.42.
Elkana Kipruto and Adrian Diaz-Lopez led a 1-2 finish for Wichita State individually.
The Coyotes are back in action next weekend in the Muthama-Rogers Invitational hosted by Bethel College in North Newton.
