McPherson got the chance to compete on the fast, flat State Hospital cross-country course in north of Winfield Saturday morning and three Bulldogs came home with season bests. “I was very pleased with the way our kids competed today,” said McPherson coach Bart Gray. “For Bryan to run under 29 (minutes) was a real breakthrough for him.”
Grosbach finished with a season best 28:56.72 while teammate Troy Hernandez dropped out at the two-mile mark while running in about tenth place. “Troy appears to have an abdominal strain. With the conference meet coming up in two weeks, we decided to pull him off when it began to aggravate him. Today wasn’t that important in the larger scheme of things.”
Bethany Lobmeyer led the Mac women with a time of 24:28.66 for the 5k distance. Mandy Shobe finished three spots back in a season best 24:44.01 while Rachel Crist improved her best to 27:31.14.
The Bulldogs will take next week off from competition while beginning final preparations for the KCAC championships which will be held on McPherson’s Rolling Acres Golf Course, five miles north of McPherson. The women’s KCAC championship race will begin at 10:30 a.m., and the men will follow at 11:15.