ACU Women Improve at Chile Pepper

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Abilene Christian placed 16th in the women's race and 25 in the men's race at Arkansas' Chile Pepper Festival on Friday.
 
The ACU women ended with 480 points to finish ahead of Oklahoma and WAC foes Stephen F. Austin and Tarleton State.
 
Tessa Holderman finished the five-kilometer course in 18:40 for 79th, leading a trio of tightly packed Cats. Peyton Bornstein finished in 18:41.1 for 81st and Katelyn Coldicott was 89th at 18:44.
 
Kate Williams finished 131st at 19:07.7 and Bella Evans finished the scoring five for ACU in 142nd at 19:12.3.
 
Autumn Smith ran the race in 19:37.1, Kate Hansen ran it in 19:43 and Hadley Phillips came in at 20:34.
 
"Our women ran their best race of the season," said ACU cross country coach Nathan Meeuwenberg. "Another step in the right direction. Conditions were not ideal but it didn't affect them. The results show all the work and trust they have in each other."
 
The Wildcat men ended with 584 points.
 
Kevin Castruita was 36th in 25:08 in the eight-kilometer race to lead ACU. Samuel Lanham finished in 26:21.3 for 119th and Jacob Russell came in at 26:45 for 146th.
 
Mikhail Fortner ran the course in 27:06.5 for 178th and O'Brien Verdin finished 234th in 28:07.9 to round out the scoring group for ACU. Gabe Embree was ACU's only other finisher in 28:25.4.
 
"Our men looked flat today," Meeuwenberg said. "I will need to look at the training and tweak it in the next two weeks. Garrison (Shindler) dealt with cramping and had to drop out which didn't help the team score. Kevin ran well up top but we looked flat everywhere else. Thankfully the workouts show that there is much more potential in this team! We also missed Zach Martin as he is dealing with some minor injury but will be back soon."
 
The Wildcats return to action at the ACU Naiamadu Classic on Oct. 13.