Troy Hernandez led the Bulldog charge at Saturday’s Tabor Invitational, coming in with a fifth place finish in a time of 28:02.88. “Troy is running with some very solid guys right now,” said McPherson head coach Bart Gray. “The winner from Newman is very good and the guys from Hutchinson (Community College) will be running (NCAA) D-I next fall. Troy continues to run ahead of his marks from last year.”
Bryon Grosbach came across the line in 31:00.27 to finish 36th in the field of 63.
All three Lady Bulldogs continued to lower their season bests. Bethany Lobmeyer led the Bulldogs with a time of 23:35.40 for the 5-kilometer course described by Gray as a combination of cross-country, trail running, and road racing because of its varying surfaces. Lobmeyer’s 30th place finish was followed by Mandy Shobe in 45th (26:16.82) and Rachel Crist in 48th (28:09.91).
“Everyone is staying positive. As long as they see they’re improving, they’ll continue to work. It’s more difficult when you’re running as an individual, but that’s the hand we were dealt this season, so we’ll work to make individual improvements and get after the recruiting so we’re not in this position (non-team scoring) next fall.”
McPherson will travel to Stillwater, Okla., for the Oklahoma State University “Cowboy Jamboree” on Saturday. This meet annually brings together some of the toughest fields of the harrier season on what is rated as one of the top courses in the nation. McPherson’s first race will go off at 8:00 a.m.