COLUMBIA, Mo.— Opening a busy day of Owls Athletics, Woods Cross Country took to the course at Gans Creek Cross Country Course for the Brian T. Simpson Invitational hosted by The University of Central Missouri.  

"We had a really good week of practice this week. At this point in the season every race is a test to see where we are," added Head Coach Ryan Bontz. "We are still working towards the Conference meet on November 7th. Everyone continues to improve as we approach that day.  We had a record number of personal bests today, and we get better each time out. I am super proud of this bunch and how they handle adversity." 

The women placed fifth out of 11 collegiate teams. Paced by Devan Humphreys' 19th place finish at 19:30, the Owls earned four top 50 finishes. Sydney Grubb (36th), Abbie Gibson (41st), Maggie Ramsey (47th), Kathryn Hirtz (52nd), Amy Schreck (63rd), and Kaylee Johnson (66th) along with Humphreys each set personal bests in the meet. Tara Lowe placed 62nd with a time of 21:57, just missing her personal best mark.  

The Owls entered three men as individual runners, with Gabe Soest earning the best time at 28:45. Carter Nading finished in 97th with a time of 30:56 and Justus Yates rounded out the bunch with a time of 31:44.  

The Owls are back on the course on October 24th, at the Blazing Tiger NAIA Classis in Crete, Neb., hosted by Doane University.