Emporia State Cross Country
hosts
ESU Invitational
Saturday, October 6 • Women's 5K at 9:00 a.m./Men's 8K at 9:45 a.m.
Jones Park Cross Country Course • Emporia, Kan.
Up Next: ESU Homecoming Invite
Friday, October 19 • Women's 5K at 4:45 p.m./Men's 8K at 5:30 p.m.
Jones Park Cross Country Course • Emporia, Kan.

BACK TO JONES PARK
Emporia State makes their official return to Jones Park by hosting 15 schools and over 275 athletes at the ESU Invitational on Saturday morning. In addition to the host Hornets, MIAA members Central Missouri, Missouri Western and Southwest Baptist will compete at the site of the MIAA Championships set for early November.

LAST LAP
Sam Hengeli ran 26:12.3 and placed 83rd out of 441 finishers to lead the Emporia State men to a 21st place team finish out of 49 complete teams at the Arkansas Chili Pepper Invite in Fayetteville, Ark.  Leah Nelson was 176th out of 425 finishers of the women as Emporia State placed 27th out of 51 teams in the women's competition.
Grant Knoll was the second finisher for the Hornets with a time of 26:28.8 over the eight kilometer course to finish 104th with Lucas Shryock running 27:10.2 to place 164th overall.  
Nelson ran 20:01.2 and Kaitlyn Karjala was right behind her in 177th in 20:01.6 while Hannah Showalter ran 20:03.1 to place 180th for the Hornet women.

THE COACHES
Steven Blocker is in his eighth year as the head coach for the Emporia State track and field/cross country programs. He served as an assistant with the Hornets beginning in 2009 working primarily with the sprinters, jumpers and multi-event athletes. He has produced 60 All-Americans and 30 MIAA Champions in his first seven years as head coach after coaching 14 All-Americans, six MIAA Champions and an NCAA Division II National Champion as an assistant for the Hornets.
Dr. Mark Stanbrough returns to Emporia State as an assistant coach in track & field in charge of the distance runners and heads up the cross country program. Stanbrough was the head men's and women's track & field/cross country coach for the Hornets from 1984-1992. Stanbrough was named NAIA District 10 Coach of the Year 11 times, coached 28 Athletes to 60 NAIA All-American Honors, and coached eleven national champions. The cross country harriers had two top five national finishes, with the women national runner-ups and the men placing fifth.

ABOUT THE HORNETS
The Hornet men have had a three runners lead them in four meets this season. Sam Hengeli paced the Hornets at the Chili Pepper Invite and Southern Stampede and was the second runner at the JK Gold Classic. Matthew Kipper had the top time at the four mile ESU Alumni Run and was the second Hornet finisher at the 8K Southern Stampede. Cole Bosley had the top finish for Emporia State at the JK Gold Classic, was the second runner at the Alumni Run.  
Leah Nelson was the top finisher at the Chili Pepper Invite and as the second runner at the other two 5K runs. Hannah Showalter led the Emporia State women at the 4K JK Gold Classic and the 5K Alumni Run. Kaitlyn Karjala had the top time for the Emporia State women at the Southern Stampede and was the second runner at the JK Gold Classic and the Alumni Run.
 
RANKINGS
Missouri Southern is ranked #15 in this week's United States Track & Field/Cross Country Coaches Association Top 25 and are the only MIAA men's team ranked. Six of the ten teams in the Central Regional Poll are from the MIAA.
Pittsburg State at #23 is the only MIAA school in the women's Top 25. Three conference schools are in the women's  Central Regional Rankings.

LAST YEAR'S ESU INVITE
The Emporia State men placed eight runners in the top 20 overall to capture the team title at the Papa John's ESU Invitational. The Hornet women finished in fifth place overall.  
Brian Newkirk ran 25:52.53 to place fourth overall and lead the Hornets to the championship.  He was joined in the top 15 by Gabe Sams in 11th at 27:18.45 and Cole Bosley at 27:26.05 to finish 13th overall.  
The women placed their top five runners within one minute of each other led by Leah Nelson in 21:22.66 for 29th place. She was followed by Kelsey Graber in 38th at 21:54.11 and Nora Wheatley in 39th at 21:54.39.  Devyn Smith placed 43rd in 22:05.46 while Christina Wankum rounded out the scorers in 49th at 22:22.13 over the five kilometers.

UP NEXT
The Hornets continue their three meet homestand with the ESU Homecoming Invitational on October 19. The women run at 4:45 p.m. with the men at 5:30 p.m. at the Jones Park Cross Country Course in Emporia.