EUGENE, Ore.—The Wichita State men's and women's cross country teams competed in a field of ranked teams at the Bill Dellinger Invitational on Saturday.
 
Winny Koskei led the women's team with a 13th-place finish. She completed the first 6K of the season in 20:14.5. She was consistent throughout the race, never falling below 16th, according to race splits.
 
Head Coach Kirk Hunter said the course usually runs fast, and it did again on Saturday.
 
"We're in this middle training cycle," Hunter said. "I don't expect us to be super fast at this point in the year. (Koskei) was in the pack, and they got away, and she was disappointed they got away."
 
Rebekah Topham also earned a top-50 finish, coming n 39th. Topham gradually made her way to the front 40 of the field, gaining spots in every split. All-in-all, she moved up 50 places from the first split until the finish.
 
Yazmine Wright, Abeba Sullivan and Halle Johnson rounded out the Shocker women's scoring. All three finished in the top 100
 
"Rebekah (Topham) has been dealing with major sickness," Hunter said. "Our plan for her was to be conservative early and then hard late. She did great. 
 
"Halle Johnson had a huge run for us. Her performance was pretty impressive."
 
Ben Flowers highlighted the Wichita State effort in the men's race. Flowers finished the race in 37th place, but moved up a total of 40 spots over the course of the race.
 
"Ben Flowers was exceptional," Hunter said. "He was as perfect as he could be. He closed really fast the last mile and a half. The rest of the guys got separated. In these races with a lot of people, you can't see people like you can at JK Gold. Once they lost touch, they got further and further. I think in a different scenario, they could've run better.
 
Behind Flowers, two pairs of Shocker finished close to one another. Zack Penrod and Ethan Kossover finished back-to-back in 78th and 79th. Jed Helker and Adam Moore also finished in close proximity in 89th and 91st.
 
The Shockers have two weeks off until the Fort Hays State Invitational on Oct. 12, but Hunter said racing against ranked teams is beneficial going forward.
 
"It gives us experience," Hunter said. "When you go against these ranked teams, you don't know what to expect. So this is a time to gain that experience going forward. This gives us an opportunity to do better next time. We wanted that sort of competition.
 
"It was a step forward, that's for sure."
 
Men's Team Results
1. Oregon – 54 points
2. BYU – 60 points
3. UCLA – 62 points
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11. Wichita State – 319 points
 
Men's Individual Results
37. Ben Flowers - 24:19.2
78. Zack Penrod - 24:58.9 
79. Ethan Kossover - 24:59.1 
89. Jed Helker - 25:08.8 
91. Adam Moore - 25:09.8 
115. Cory Landon - 25:38.2 
123. Bryce Merriman - 25:50.5 
128. Britte Magnuson - 25:57.6 
134. Alex Moen - 26:16.0
 
Women's Team Results
1. BYU – 35 points
2. Boise State – 81 points
3. Air Force – 103 points
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10. Wichita State – 246 points
 
Women's Individual Results
13. Winny Koskei - 20:14.5 
39. Rebekah Topham - 20:42.9 
56. Yazmine Wright - 20:58.2 
89. Abeba Sullivan - 21:23.0 
99. Halle Johnson - 21:38.9 
117. Rita Schnacker - 22:01.4 
127. Danielle Rinn - 22:32.4 
131. Miranda Dick 22:36.1 
136. Katie Cumpston - 23:03.7