Posted: Sep 28, 2021

Running Cardinals fare well at Milliken Invitational

MINERAL AREA CROSS COUNTRY TEAMS COMPETED WELL AT MILLIKIN MEET IN DECATUR, ILLINOIS

KYLE VINYARD RECEIVED NJCAA DIVISION III CROSS COUNTRY RUNNER OF THE WEEK.

The MAC Cross Country teams got into the heart of their schedule for the 2021 season with competition at the H.W. Wright Invitational in Decatur, Illinois on Friday evening, September 24^th. The meet, which was hosted by Millikin University, had 8 schools in attendance with Mineral Area the lone junior college competing. The Nationally 4^th ranked Cardinals men's team had most of their runners take advantage of perfect weather and a fast course to claim 3^rd place team honors, lead by freshman Kyle Vinyard. Vinyard lead from the gun and wasn't passed until the final 800 meters by the winner from UMSL, finishing second overall and posting a huge personal best time for the 8 kilometer(4.97 miles) race distance of 26:32. Kyle's race also earned him NJCAA Division III Cross Country Runner of the Week by the USTFCCCA organization. Freshman Devin St. Clair also ran well, finishing 12^th overall in his first ever 8k race in a time of 27:58. The women were down on bodies due to injuries, but still had outstanding races from freshmen Laura Maddox and Haley Hernandez who finished in a virtual dead heat, with Maddox timed in 24:57.4 for 13^th place and Hernandez 24:57.5 for 14^th. Race distance for the women was 6 kilometers (3.73 miles). Completes results for the MAC runners were:

Men Women

Kyle Vinyard-2^nd-26:32 Laura Maddox-13^th-24:57.4

Devin St. Clair-12^th-27:58 Haley Hernandez-14^th-24:57.5

Grayson Knernschield-23^rd-28:57 Rachel Wilson- 28^th- 27:32

Jacob Arnold-29^th-29:32

Will Jarvis-37^th-29:57

Gavin Anderson-40^th-30:45

Ricardo Menjivar-45^th-32:32

Complete race results: https://results.shazamracing.com/meets/11074

The Mineral Area XC teams will be back at racing on Friday, October 8^th at the Principia Invitational.