Results

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.  --  Brady Johnson broke Wichita State's 23-year-old 8K school record Saturday morning with a time of 23:54.16 at the Chile Pepper Festival to lead the Shocker men to a third place finish.

Johnson's time broke the previous record of 24:09.72 set 23 years ago to the day on Oct. 3, 1992, by All-American Mornay Annandale.

"I felt it was a record I could break, and I also think a few more of the runners on this team can break it because we have a good team," Johnson said. "It was a good course and good day, and it is always good to get a school record. It was Mornay's record and he was an All-American so the school record has a lot behind it. My main focus is getting faster and working hard over the next couple of months."

Paul Raymond and Ugis Jocis plaed 27th and 29th, respectively, with personal best times of 24:32.06 and 24:34.02. Kyle Larkin, Nathan Wickoren and Gage Garcia also set personal 8K bests with 24:38.13, 25:09.32 and 25.14.23, respectively.

"I am really pleased with the first four men's finishers and the entire team ran exceptionally well," Head Coach Kirk Hunter said. "We will need to close up the gap and get closer to Brady and then close the gap from finishers five through nine to get closer to our number four guy. They had a slow start and couldn't get through the crowd.

"Brady had a great race and looked really good. He was with the leaders the first 3 1/2 miles. Since this was our first true competition, he doesn't have his race legs yet and it was awesome he finished so well. Getting the school record is really cool because there are some incredible athletes that have come through the program, including Mornay, and its great he has his name next to the record now."

The Shocker women finished fourth behind Sidney Hirsch's 27th-place finish in the 5K in a time of 17:14.59. Rebekah Topham backed her with a 31st place finish in a time of 17:20.58 in her first 5K collegiate race. 

"In the women's race, they did not have a starting box marked for us, so they put us in an outside box," Hunter said. "I was dissappointed in the start, and since we were on the outside we got ran into the fence at about the 300 meter mark. With that, we ran the first half of the race in the back half of the field of 436 runners. 

"We did run extremely well and I was impressed with the composure we had and how we did not let the adversity get to us. I think we lost at least 15 seconds after getting run into the fence and then having to go around all of those runners to get back into the top half of the pack."

Emilea Finley (36th-17:24.17), Kayla Deighan (37th (17:25.74), Jordan Maestas (70th-18:02.14) and Sarah Wright (71st-18:02.88) ran personal best times on the 5K course. Lycia Hollon (50th) was three seconds off her personal best which she set at the Chile Pepper in 2014 with a time of 17:40.88.


Chile Pepper Division I Men
1. Arkansas, 24; Tulsa, 60; 3. Wichita State, 93; 4. Baylor 156; 5. Texas Tech, 169; 6. Arkansas State, 228; 7. Arkansas Little Rock, 228; 8. Texas State, 231; 9. Central Arkansas, 247; 10. SE Missouri State, 249; 11. LSU, 254; 12. Drake 316; 13. Creighton, 330; 14. Abilene Christian, 368; 15. Louisiana Monroe, 428.

Wichita State Results
8. Brady Johnson, 23:54.16; 27. Paul Raymond, 24:32.06; 29. 24:34.02; 35. Kyle Larkin, 24:38.13; 61. Nathan Wickoren, 25:09.32; 72. Gage Garcia, 25:14.23; 77. Reno Law, 25:17.79.

Chile Pepper Division I Women
1. Arkansas, 18; 2. Abilene Christian, 99; 3. Tulsa, 113; 4. Wichita State, 120; 5. Texas Tech, 160; 6. Drake, 187; 7. Creighton, 197; 8. Southern Miss, 198; 9. SE Missouri State, 212; 10. Arkansas State, 285; 11. Central Arkansas, 326; 12. Arkansas-Little Rock, 331; 13. LSU, 349; 14. Missouri State, 363; 15. Texas State, 388; 16. Baylor, 411; 17. Louisiana Monroe, 550; 18. 

Wichita State Results
27. Sidney Hirsch, 17:14.59; 31. Rebekah Topham, 17:20.58; 36. Emilea Finley, 17:24.17; 37. Kayla Deighan, 17:25.74; 50. Lycia Hollon, 17:40.88; 70. Jordan Maestas, 18:02.14; 71. Sarah Wright, 18:02.88.