Red Devil men finish 4th, women 9th at Memphis Twilight Classic

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Sports

September 6, 2017 - 12:00 AM

The Allen Community College cross country team got its first real taste of high-level competition over the weekend at the Brooks Memphis Twilight Cross Country Classic.
In a field packed with teams of all divisions, the Red Devils held their own. The men finished fourth and the women ninth.
“I wanted this meet to be fun and have them relax and not to dig, dig dig because I know eventually that’s going to have to happen,” said ACC head coach Vince DeGrado. “But this was their first real competition and it was the perfect introduction to a meet environment.”
The teams competing were wide-ranging featuring Division I schools such as No. 21 Middle Tennessee State, Ole Miss, Arkansas State and Memphis.
“We were the only junior college,” DeGrado said. “But that’s OK, I like that. I like running against people you aren’t going see a lot during the season. I don’t really care about school classifications. D-1, D-2, NAIA. Once you get on the line it doesn’t matter. It’s your team versus the next team.”
The men’s fourth place finish put them ahead of Arkansas State and Memphis and just six points behind third place Chattanooga.
“I was happy with the men,” DeGrado said. “I thought they attacked and were aggressive. I wanted them in an environment and state of mind that they weren’t used to and make them have to survive which will benefit them in the future.”
Leading the way for the men for the second race in a row was sophomore Paul Becker who finished ninth with a time of 20:30.73 which was just one second away from eighth place.
“I was happy to see Paul establish himself as our front runner,” DeGrado said. “I was very pleased with his effort.”
Becker’s performance was good enough to earn him KJCCC Cross Country Athlete of the Week honors.
Freshman Wade King was the second Devil to cross the line finishing 21st with a time of 20:53.99. Also finishing in the top 25 was sophomore Anthony Glasgow who ran the course in 21:05.30.
For the women, the ninth place finish was 13 points away from moving up to eighth and while the performance wasn’t dominant, DeGrado said that he was still pleased about the progression of the very young Lady Devils.
Leading the way for Allen on the 5k course was sophomore Abby Steinhauser who finished 30th with a time of 19:11.59.
DeGrado was happy that Steinhauser was able to push herself back into the lead of the pack after finishing second on the team at their home meet several weeks ago.
“She stepped up big,” DeGrado said. “That’s the Abby that I saw last year chasing (former ACCC 2015-17 star runner Kaitlyn Shoemaker). That’s the Abby I knew. Here she comes.”
Freshman Alexus Castor-Inscho finished 48th with a time of 19:38.80 and freshman Amber Gloria finished third on the team with a time of 19:43.40.
The Red Devil now have a couple weeks off to prepare for their next meet at the Missouri Southern Stampede in Joplin, Missouri on Sept. 16.

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