STILLWATER, Okla. — Running in the oldest cross country meet in the nation, Allen Community College’s Red Devil teams had mixed results Saturday in the Oklahoma State Cowboy Jamboree.
Allen’s men finished third overall in a 20-team field comprised of two-year college teams along with NCAA Division 1 and 2 and NAIA four-year teams. The Red Devil men, ranked No. 2 in NJCAA, lost to No. 3 ranked Iowa Central and NAIA No. 4 ranked Southwestern, which won the meet.
Allen’s women had a tough time in the Oklahoma State meet. Allen head coach Vince DeGrado said the Red Devil women struggled for the first time this season, finishing eighth out of 26 teams.
“In years past that might be great for Allen but with my expectations and where we’re ranked, we can’t afford to have bad races,” DeGrado said of the fourth-ranked Red Devil women.
DeGrado said the course conditions weren’t the greatest because of the excessive woodchips used by Oklahama State. “But everybody has to run in those conditions,” he said.
“I’m a little disappointed we (the ACC men) lost to a team ranked below us but Iowa Central’s tradition means it will always be tough. We did beat fellow Region VI favorite Colby Community College by more than 30 points.”
Evan Adams and Ryan Pulsifer were Allen’s top runners in the meet. With Kyle Schauvliege, who has been Allen’s No. 1 runner this season, under the weather but running in the race, Adams and Pulsifer stepped up.
Adams finished 15th overall in running the 8K distance in 26 minutes, 47.64 seconds. Right behind him was Pulsifer in 16th at 26:49.94.
“I don’t see this men’s team slowing down. If someone falls off one race, we have nine other guys who will be there to pick them up,” DeGrado said. “If we keep running like a team, we could put together a pretty rewarding postseason.”
Tegan Michael placed 28th in 27:18.27. Brock Artis was 34th in 27:25.31 and Garrett Colglazier placed 38th in 27:32.86.
Josh Whittaker ran 41st in 27:36.49 and Patrick Rachford was 95th in 28:55.90. Schauvliege took 111th in 29:15.88 and Tucker Morgan was 112 in 29:16.19.
Gabby Ruiz and Danae McGee paced the ACC women in their 5K race. Ruiz placed 17th in 19:45.58 and McGee was 18th in 19:46.62.
Tsianina Whitetree placed 45th in 20:16.27 and Kim Boyle was 94th in 21:29.29. Debra Kime ran 114th in 21:52.79.
Kim Cooper placed 127th in 22:10.64 and Emily Steimel was 179th in 23:12.60. Sydney Owens finished 193rd in 24:21.10 and Bianca Ramirez was 199th in 24:42.36.
“Tsianina ran better in this race and I was pleased with Kim Boyle’s race,” DeGrado said.
