Men's XC finishes fifth, Pearson second

Photo courtesy of JBU Sports Information John Brown junior Ben Martin runs with teammate freshman River Baker right behind during last Saturday's Show Me State Showdown hosted by Columbia (Mo.) College.
Photo courtesy of JBU Sports Information John Brown junior Ben Martin runs with teammate freshman River Baker right behind during last Saturday's Show Me State Showdown hosted by Columbia (Mo.) College.

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Finishing right next to each other was sophomore Ben Martin and freshman River Baker as the John Brown University men's cross country team captured a fifth-place finish at the Show Me State Showdown, hosted by Columbia (Mo.), on Saturday afternoon at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course.

JBU'S top two runners crossed the finish line at the same time -- 27 minutes, 19 seconds -- with Martin edging out Baker within the same second. Baker's finish was a new collegiate personal record, while Martin continued his streak of nine consecutive races in which he has posted the time JBU time.

Columbia (Mo.) freshman Alexander Dukes earned the top spot on the podium with a 25:52 finish, while William Woods (Mo.) captured the team title with a combined time of 2:12.07. The Golden Eagles finished nine seconds behind their previous team best -- this time coming in at 2:19.48, 36 seconds behind fourth-place finisher Hannibal-LaGrange (Mo.).

Two other Golden Eagles scored for the third time in as many races this season as freshman Parker Hale landed 41st overall with a time of 28:38, while junior Nathan Pearson's mark of 28:20 was good enough for 35th.

Junior Matthew Bloom cross the line at 28:11 to finish the scoring for John Brown - landing him a 33rd place finish. It was his second time scoring this season.

Women

Fresh off her medalist finish two weeks ago, sophomore Allika Pearson claimed a second-place finish in the women's race as the JBU women's cross country team finished eighth overall.

Pearson's time of 18:50 was just 25 seconds behind the program record-breaking performance 14 days ago, as she finished just 16 seconds behind the race winner, freshman Brianna Haller of Columbia (Mo.). Haller's time of 18:34 helped the host Cougars grab the team title with a time of 1:36:45, 9:07 faster than the Golden Eagles.

Three Golden Eagles scored for the first time this season. Juniors Elizabeth and Molly Brownell finished 57th and 41st with times of 21:56 and 21:23, respectively. Freshman Madelyn Shasteen's time of 21:44 was good enough for 50th place overall in the field of 81 runners. All three's times were personal records in the 5,000-meter.

Up Next

John Brown returns to the course on Saturday, Oct. 19, when it takes part in the Little Rock Open, scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.

Sports on 10/09/2019