JOPLIN, Mo. – For the second straight week redshirt junior Dominique Scott set a meet record en route to capturing her fourth career individual event title to help the No. 8-ranked Arkansas women’s cross country team win the Missouri Southern Stampede on Saturday morning.
Scott, last week’s Southeastern Conference Runner of the Week, turned in a career-best 5K time of 16:32.78 to win her second consecutive meet and record the best time in Missouri Southern Stampede meet history. The time of 16:32.78 surpasses her previous personal-best in the 5K by over 28.03 seconds.
Saturday’s meet-record time marks the second straight race that the Capetown, South Africa native has broken a meet 5K record time. Back on Sept. 6, Scott set the 5K standard at the adidas/UCI Invitational, winning the race in 17:12.50.
The individual title is the fourth of her career, as she previously won the adidas/UCI Invitational, the Aztec Invitational (Sept. 21, 2013) and the 2013 SEC Championship (Nov. 1, 2013).
As a team, the Razorbacks were able to pick up their third straight win to open the 2014 season. Arkansas finished with a rotation score of 24, as its top five runners all finished inside the top 10. Each runner in the Razorback scoring rotation set a new personal-best time in the 5K.
Senior Shannon Klenke finished 50.26 seconds behind Scott, as her time of 16:58.52 was good enough for a second-place finish. The time is a new personal-best for Klenke, surpassing her previous best 5K time of 17:10.30 set at last year’s Chile Pepper Festival.
Arkansas rounded out its scoring rotation with a trio of runners place sixth, seventh and eighth. Redshirt junior Diane Robison (17:09.10), sophomore Regan Ward (17:12.22) redshirt sophomore Valerie Reina (17:15.12) all set new personal record 5K times.
Freshman Kelsey Schrader gave the Razorbacks their sixth runner to finish in the top 10 on the day, as her time of 17:15.70 was good enough for a ninth-place finish. Redshirt sophomore Samantha Mohler’s time of 17:37.34 placed her 15th, and redshirt freshman Chandler Crumblish rounded out Arkansas’ runners with her 28th-place finish (18:14.30).
Arkansas ran away from the competition in team scoring, as the next closest team to the Razorbacks’ score of 24 was Tulsa who posted a 49. Oklahoma collected 89 points to finish third, while host school Missouri Southern State placed fourth with 110 points. Midwestern State rounded out the top five with 164 points.
The Razorbacks will be back in action on Oct. 4, as they will run their only regular season meet in Fayetteville by participating in the Chile Pepper Invitational at Agri Park. Race time is slate for 10:20 a.m.
Coach Lance Harter Post Race Sound
On Dominque Scott’s Meet Record: “Today’s meet is the 32nd annual race at the Southern Stampede and there has been a lot of great runners participate in this race. The fact she ran 16.32 with the heavy work load that she is doing in training is quite remarkable.”
On Shannon Klenke’s Performance: “She was second and ran a sub 16:58, and again considering the heavy work load, it’s quite a tribute to the talent that she has to run a personal best time today.”
On Today’s Performance and Moving on to the Chile Pepper: “We had nine runners post lifetime best and it was a very dominating performance today for our team. Our team had a strong performance today, and they did that without Grace Heymsfield, who is at the SEC Symposium in Atlanta. You add her to the fold, we have a very talent and experience group. Now, we have to get ready for the Chile Pepper in two weeks and for those who come out and see us will be very impressed with this group.”
Arkansas Runners Finish
1st R-Jr. Dominque Scott 16:32.78 (Personal-Best)
2nd R-Sr. Shannon Klenke 16:58.52 (Personal-Best)
6th R-Jr. Diane Robison 17:09.10 (Personal-Best)
7th So. Regan Ward 17:12.22 (Personal-Best)
8th R-So. Valerie Reina 17:15.22 (Personal-Best)
9th Fr. Kelsey Schrader 17:15.70 (Personal-Best)
15th R-So. Samantha Mohler 17:37.34 (Personal-Best)
28th R-Fr. Chandler Crumblish 18:14.30 (Personal-Best)
11th Sr. Jessica Kamilos (Unattached) 17:20.07 (Personal-Best)