HUTCHINSON, Kan. – The Wichita State women's cross country team opened its season with a team win under the lights at the Terry Masterson Twilight Classic Friday evening at the Fun Valley Sports Complex.
 
The Shocker women finished first of six teams with 42 points, and the men placed third out of 12 teams with 76 points.
 
Freshman Faith Ekart led the way for the women in her collegiate debut with a third-place finish in the 3-mile race, running 18:35.71 with sophomore Isabelle Hartnett finishing right behind her in fourth with a time of 18:38.18.
 
"The goal for the girls was for Isabelle to pull the freshmen through the race, and she did a great job," head coach Kirk Hunter said. "Even when a couple of them were falling off, she was back there cheering for them and trying to pull them through. She did it exactly the way she was supposed to."
 
Freshmen Kalyn Willingham and Emily See also recorded top-15 finishes in their collegiate debuts, finishing ninth (19:04.89) and 11^th (19:23.76), respectively. Senior Farrah Miller rounded out the first five finishers for Wichita State, taking 15^th with a time of 19:53.68, and Audrey Parson finished 27^th in 20:49.00.
 
"Farrah came through really good at the end," Hunter said. "She was down a little bit in the middle, but for her last mile to come back from 21^st to 15^th was really good, so I was really proud of her."
 
For the men, six Shockers finished in the top 20 of the 4-mile race, led by redshirt-freshman Ian Schram, who finished 12^th with a time of 20:45.00. Jonah Allison and Riley Vandaveer finished not far behind in 14^th (20:48.73) and 15^th (20:51.55), respectively, followed by Bennett Meoli in 17^th (21:01.03), Colin Graham in 18^th (21:09.42) and Landen O'Neill in 19^th (21:27.89). Ian Hunter took 33^rd with a time of 22:53.17.
 
"It was all about trying to run together as a pack," Hunter said. "I told them no matter what, don't go out with those leaders, and they didn't do it; they did what I told them. It cost us a little on the team placing, but I wasn't worried about that."
 
Of the seven runners, five were underclassmen, and six were racing in a Shocker cross country uniform for the first time.
 
"These are young guys who have not had the chance to run college cross country, so it was a good experience for them, and hopefully this will springboard them into the season better," Hunter said.
 
The remainder of the Wichita State cross country team will make its season debut alongside this evening's runners at home at the JK Gold Classic on Saturday, Sept. 7 at Clapp Cross Country Course.

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MEN'S RESULTS (4-mile) - 3rd of 12 / 76 points

12	Ian Schram	20:45.0
14	Jonah Allison	20:48.8
15	Riley Vandaveer	20:51.6
17	Bennett Meoli	21:01.1
18	Colin Graham	21:09.5
19	Landen O'Neill	21:27.9
33	Ian Hunter	22:53.2

WOMEN'S RESULTS (3-mile) - 1st of 6 / 42 points

3	Faith Ekart	18:35.7
4	Isabelle Hartnett	18:38.2
9	Kalyn Willingham	19:04.9
11	Emily See	19:23.8
15	Farrah Miller	19:53.7
27	Audrey Parson	20:49.0