The cross country squad went to Columbia, Mo., prepared to take on the rolling hills and the Tigers in the Missouri Cross Country Challenge. However, both the men’s and the women’s teams fell short and took second place behind the Tigers despite solid performances from some of the Jayhawks.

In the men’s 8k race, the top three spots were taken by Missouri runners. The winner was Mizzou sophomore Michael Pandolfo, who ran unattached with a time of 26:42, followed by Mizzou redshirt senior Michael Barrows and sophomore Phillip King.

For the Jayhawks, freshman Zach Zarda finished sixth overall and first for the Jayhawks with a time of 27:12. It’s the second meet this season that a freshman has finished first for the team, after Donny Wasinger finished first at the Bob Timmons Classic.

“I think as a team, we all had a bad day,” Zarda said. “I think I had a less of a bad day but still not a good day.”

Zarda ran with a side-stitch during the race.

“It’s never happened to me before, but I had to suck it up and tough it out,” he said.

Right behind Zarda was junior Isaiah Shirlen and senior Brock Ternes. Despite the effort, the Tigers beat out the Jayhawks by a score of 22 to 33 to take first overall.

Shirlen was optimistic and felt like the team improved in working together.

“I think we did twice as well as two weeks ago,” he said.

Shirlen said he thought his performance in Columbia was better than at the Bob Timmons Invitational.

The Jayhawks had been preparing for the infamous hills at the A.L. Gustin Golf Course in Columbia, but the team said the rain was a factor in their performance, making the hills and grass soggy.

“I’ve ran on worse hills before,” Zarda said. “It still takes a lot out of your legs, and your feet sink into the ground instead of bouncing off.”

As for the women’s team, junior Lauren Bonds took first place not just for the Jayhawks but first overall with a time of 18:59. It’s the second meet in a row that Bonds has taken first place overall with a time under 19 minutes.

Sophomore Amanda Miller took fifth place overall and second for the Jayhawks followed by Kara Windisch in sixth and Amanda Knoll in 10th. The rest of the top 10 was dominated by the Tigers, giving them a score of 24 to 35.

Miller felt that the team did the best it could under the circumstances.

“It was hard but I think we did the best we could with the footing being bad and muddy on the turns,” she said.

Miller also said that prior to the women’s race, there were high school races and also the men’s 8k.

Miller believed that all of the hill workouts were helpful.

“The course wasn’t that hilly until the last mile,” she said. “I think it got us prepared for that last mile of the course.”

Miller said what she got from the race was how their team competed against another Big 12 team and what the competition is like in the conference, since the Bob Timmons Invitational did not feature any Division I schools.

Although the Jayhawks may have not gotten the victory against Missouri, Shirlen felt like the potential for the team is there.

“The team is so young and has so much potential,” he said. “I think the marginal improvement is going to be huge two months from now. A lot of the guys will be in much better shape.”

Junior Bret Imgrund, who finished 15th overall, had a similar opinion about the team.

“If we stay healthy and work hard, then it’ll come,” he said. “It’s a long season, we need to focus and keep improving.”

The next race for the Jayhawks isn’t until Oct. 4 when they head to Stillwater, Okla., to compete in the OSU Jamboree. Shirlen said that there’s more competition in store for them in Stillwater.

“We have to stay mentally tough,” he said. “Oklahoma State is one of the top two or three teams in the nation. It’s tough competition especially for the freshmen, but I think they’ll be tough enough by then to handle it.”

— — Edited by Rachel Burchfield