Senior Baidy Ba finished first at the Tommy Evans Invitational Friday evening in Akron, opening the cross country program’s season. He ran a personal best time of 18:11.6 in the men’s 6k.
Last season, Ba placed third at the same opening meet.
“He’s very within himself, and he’s pretty experienced, but the win was great,” coach Laura Rybka said.
Graduate student Ethan Yost was the next Kent State finisher with a time of 18:52.6, landing him in 17th place.
Sophomore Rylan Winkler, who ran a 19:44.3, impressed Rybka. Last season, Winkler finished with a time of 20:14.7 at the Tommy Evans Invitational.
“A runner that stepped up a lot from where they had been would be Rylan Winkler,” Rybka said.
Rybka was proud of the team’s performance at its first meet.
“The men did a great job in executing and running within themselves,” she said. “Especially for the first half of the race and then picking it up.”
The men’s team placed fifth out of eight teams. Last season, the men finished in first place at the same event.
Freshmen Nora Salem and Alexis Tracy led the Flashes on the women’s team in the 5k event. Salem was the first Kent State finisher with a time of 19:58.7, while Tracy was next with a time of 20:15.0.
“We were missing some people on the women’s side,” Rybka said. “But [Salem and Tracy] did really well, especially for their first college meet.”
Junior Nicole Kuehner ran a time of 20:28.7 – she was the third Kent State finisher on the women’s team.
“The women’s team took a huge step forward in their mentality about racing,” Rybka said. “I’m super proud of them for that and excited to see what they can do.”
The women’s team finished ninth out of 10 teams. Last season, the women placed seventh out of 16 teams.
The Flashes’ next meet is Sept. 14 at the We Fly Championship Preview in Muncie, Ind., which will be hosted by Ball State.
The first meet had its ups and downs, but Rybka is looking forward to the middle of the season.
“Mid-season is where you start getting race fit, rather than just generally fit,” Rybka said. “I would say the race that we want to really start seeing what we could do would be Paul Short on Oct. 5.”
Kailyn Tibolla is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].