Friends Athletics
Levi Convirs, Sports Information Director
STERLING – The Friends University Women’s (5K) & Men’s (8K) teams competed in their second meet Saturday at the Sterling County Club Warrior Fest.
The Lady Falcons were victorious today with a first place finish out of 10 teams.
Leading the way was senior Christa Titus with a second place overall finish and a 19:11 5k time.
Nicole Ballard finished second on the team with a sixth overall place and time of 19:25.
“Christa ran a really strong race today,” head coach Jason Parr said. “Nicole continues to get stronger and we also had a great seventh place finish today from Miranda Tenove, who had a 1:17 PR today running third for our squad.
“Kara Zahariades stepped up big for us today with an 11th place finish and fourth on our team.
“Newcomer Grace Garrison made a great push at the end to beat out a Hasting competitor to help us claim the victory over the Mustangs who are receiving votes in the NAIA preseason polls. We also had great performance by Payton Reaves and Morgan Smith who both finished in the top 20 today.”
“Today was a great opportunity to run against some good KCAC and NAIA schools. We look forward to Missouri Southern next week where will get another opportunity to improve upon this weekend. We will be at full capacity with all the girls running.”
Friends Women’s Results
2nd- Christa Titus -19:11
6th- Nicole Ballard- 19:25
7th- Miranda Tenove- 19:34
11th- Kara Zahariades- 20:04
12th – Grace Garrison- 20:13
15th – Payton Reaves- 20:31
16th- Morgan Smith- 20:35
21st- Kayla Allen- 20:55
39th – Jaelyn Casanova- 23:06
43rd- Moira Burgess-23:49
48th- Jolene Jensen- 24:25
The Men’s Falcons also finished first out of 10 complete teams today at the Warrior Fest Invite. Leading the way again today was newcomer Jonathan Jones, who finished second overall with a time of 27:10.
“Very impressed with his leadership today on the course,” Parr said.
Having a bounce back race was Isaac Sprague with a fourth place overall finish and a time of 27:35.
“I really appreciated his ability to get back out there today and have a good day. Logan White had a strong showing today with a sixth place overall finish.”
“Newcomers Avery Stuever and Nathan Mier were big for us today. Both ran their first 8k and will continue to improve. We are looking forward to being at full capacity next week on the guy’s side as we will have Reno Ferris and Brett Martin back in action.”
Friends Men’s Results
2nd Jonathan Jones- 27:10
4th- Isaac Sprague- 27:35
6th- Logan White- 27:38
8th- Avery Stuever- 27:53
12th- Nathan Mier- 28:00
26th- Logan Krenn- 29:30
35th- Isaac Nelson- 30:50
38th- Jonathan Pettyjohn- 31:21
41st- Alex Viscarra- 32:30
50th- Isaac Nelson- 25:16
Full Team Results: https://www.tfrrs.org/results_search.html