Published: September 16, 2008 12:14 pm      

ECU men run well at own Tiger Chase

Ada — Sparked by a second and third-place finish from brothers John and Jim Sutrick and a fourth from Jacob Bussell, the East Central University men’s cross country team won the 2008 ECU Tiger Chase, an 8-kilometer event, Saturday at the Pontotoc Technology Center.

John Sutrick, who finished in second place for the second straight year in the event, clocked in at 26:29. He was 11 seconds off the pace set by Dallas Baptist’s Felix Rodriguez, who finished in 26:18.

Jim Sutrick ended up third in 26:39 and Bussell was fourth in 26:43.

Also placing in the top 10 for the Tigers were Daniel Kiptoo, last year’s winner, in seventh place at 26:50 and Joel Dutton, who took ninth in 27:01.

“I thought, as a team, we ran really well. John was good and that was the best I’ve ever seen Jim run,” said ECU head coach Steve Sawyer. “Daniel is starting to come around and is injury-free. Jacob and John are showing to be good senior leaders with this team.”

The Tigers captured the team title with a score of 25, followed by Cameron (62), McMurry (72), Dallas Baptist (74) and Oklahoma Wesleyan (126).

Also running well for ECU were: Tyler Jackson, 14th in 28:11; Derick Kosgei, 27th in 28:26; and Mike Saina, 19th in 28:39.

Four other Tigers ran as Alejandro Garcia was 23rd in 29:04; Stefan Terrell finished 28th in 29:34; Henrie Hunter (unattached) was 29th in 29:38; and Haun Mitchell took 30th in 30:15.

WOMEN

East Central finished third out of six teams in the 5k women’s race as the Lady Tigers swept the 10th through 12th spots.

Junior Sarah Reihart led the way for ECU by clocking in at 20:53 and taking 10th. Teammate Alex Kirkpatrick was 11th in 21:01 and freshman Nancy Sandoval ended up 12th in 21:04.

Dallas Baptist, which swept the top four places, captured the team title with a score of 17, followed by Midwestern State (50), ECU (66), McMurry (113), Oklahoma Wesleyan (145) and Southeastern Oklahoma State (160).

Steffan Hannah, of DBU, set the pace with a time of 18:42, edging out teammate Linet Kibet by 27 seconds.

Also for ECU, Silvia Barkechir finished 16th with a time of 21:26; Carina Clemente ended up 20th in 21:52; and Jessica Nguyen took 22nd in 21:57.

Two freshmen from ECU ran unattached as Lindsey Appelman finished 33rd in 23:20 and Kori McConnell was 38th in 24:31.

The next scheduled competition for the ECU teams will be on Sept. 27 at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee.