The Kansas cross country team continues to build upon improvements from last season, bringing in top finishes in Saturday’s Oklhoma Cowboy Jamboree meet.

The women’s team snagged a second-place finish and the men placed sixth. Both teams placed higher than last year.

Senior Lauren Bonds placed second in a race of 201 women. Junior Amanda Miller and sophomores Kara Windisch and Rebeka Stowe all finished in the top 20, helping to carry the team to second place. Last year the only runner who placed in the top 20 was Bonds, who placed ninth.

“Our front four did a tremendous job today,” assistant coach Michael Whittlesey said. “Bonds had a great race. She looked comfortable and strong and was a terrific leader. Miller, Windisch and Stowe competed extremely well together, which is exactly what we had practiced after our last race in Missouri. I am so pleased with the effort on the women’s team.”

All four of the women’s top finishers ran at personal record times — Bonds at 17:19.50, Miller at 17:42.50, Windisch at 17:48.60 and Stowe at 17:50.10.

“We’ve been doing a lot tougher workouts,” Stowe said. “Workouts that are preparing for us better for these races.”

The women’s team beat two teams with higher regional rankings, Oklahoma State and Tulsa, according to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association rankings. The only team that finished higher than Kansas was Texas Tech, which is ranked 30th in the nation.

“We were hoping that we would move up in the polls after this week,” Stowe said.

The men’s team moved up one spot in the meet placement from last year. Sophomore Donny Wasinger was the first Kansas runner to cross the finish line, with a time of 24:56.30, finishing 31st out of 245 runners. He beat his time from his freshman year by almost a minute.

“A lot of those guys are sophomores, myself included,” Wasinger said. “Coming in after freshman year and just adapting to college life and college responsibilities and everything, kind of getting in the swing of things, we can focus more on practice.”

Senior Bret Imgrund, sophomores Austin Bussingm and Kaleb Humphreys and junior Dan Van Orsdel finished in the top five for Kansas, each runner improving his time from last year.

“We’re looking ahead and looking and thinking of what we need to do better,” Wasinger said.

The Cowboy Jamboree marks a change in the caliber of the season.

“The races are only going to get bigger and more important from here on out,” Stowe said. “It’s a nice segway to our next meet.”

— Edited by Amanda Thompson