Arkansas eighth at Pre-National with Vaught leading squad

COLUMBIA – Arkansas placed eighth at the Pre-National Invitational hosted by Missouri at its Gans Creek course with the Razorbacks scoring 309 points. Sydney Vaught (née Thorvaldson) led the team in placing 12th in 19 minutes, 51.1 seconds over a 6,000m distance.

No. 1 BYU won the team title with 25 points as Cougar freshman Jane Hedengren won the individual title in a course record of 18:42.3. No. 19 Villanova (170) and No. 21 Missouri (216) placed second and third while the top five included No. 30 Tennessee (219) and Florida State (255).

Arkansas finished just three points behind No. 23 Boston College and were four places ahead of Texas (366), who won Chile Pepper earlier this month.

Clemson’s Silvia Jelego finished second in the race with a time of 19:05.8 while BYU’s Riley Chamberlain placed third in 19:08.6.

Razorback Josphine Mwaura placed 22nd overall and scored 21 team points in running 20:01.6. Olivia Pielemeier closed well over the final stages of the race to finish 34th and score 32 team points with a time of 20:22.6.

“We got out well up front, which is really good,” said Arkansas women’s cross country coach Marc Burns. “Sydney ran her big workout on Tuesday, so I think she felt that a little bit over the last 2k. So, she can probably move up a few spots.

“Josphine has kind of been sick all week, so she actually ran very well considering how she’s been feeling. Olivia moved up from 70th at 3k and ended up 34th. So, that’s really good, but we also probably need to figure out how to get a little bit quicker and then move up.”

Madeleine Gear finished fourth among the Razorbacks, placing 122nd and 114th in adjusted scoring with a time of 21:15.9. Sanu Jallow-Lockhart was the fifth Razorback as she ran 21:32.2 in her first ever 6k race to place 138th and 130th in adjusted scoring. Sorcha Shui finished 159th (148th) with a time of 21:36.9.

“Our 4-5-6 ran better than they’ve been running,” noted Burns. “It’s great to see Maddie Gear be our fourth today. That was Sanu’s first 6k ever and I thought she did a great job. That group has got to get better each week and continue to take lumps off their place and time for us to be where we want to be.”

Arkansas will next compete at the SEC Championships hosted by Tennessee on Friday, October 31. Then the Razorbacks host the NCAA South Central Region on Friday, November 14.