Still early into its 2025 season, both Wichita State cross country teams placed top five at the 35th annual Greeno/Dirksen Invitational on Saturday in Lincoln, Nebraska.
The women’s team finished second out of six teams in the Division I 5-kilometer race, beaten only by Missouri.
After redshirting last season due to injury, senior Lucy Ndungu scored impressively in her return for the Shockers, earning second overall. Ndungu ran 17:42.37 to earn silver. Scoring ninth overall, graduate student Sarah Bertry ran a time of 18:06.06.
Sophomore Faith Ekart (18:25.32), and juniors Francesca Alvarado (18:31.20) and Jordyn Picolet (18:57.56) placed ninth, 13th and 24th place, respectively.
For the second-straight meet, the men’s team finished first overall in the Division I 8-kilometer race. Missouri and the Air Force rounded out the podium of the six-team race.
Sophomore Elkana Kipruto earned his second consecutive gold medal this season, with a time of 23:55.73. Senior Adrian Diaz Lopez also found himself on the podium at third overall with a time of 24:15.86.
Rounding out the men’s scorers, sophomore Kelvin Kipyego (24:36.71), senior Zander Cobb (24:49.08) and senior Cesar Ramirez (24:59.54) finished in seventh, 10th and 12th place, respectively.
Wichita State cross country will next race at the Chile Pepper Festival, hosted by Arkansas on Saturday, Oct. 4.
