The 2025 Pittsburg State cross-country season is officially underway, as the Gorillas men’s and women’s teams traveled to Missouri for the Bearcat cross-country Invitational. Hosted by the Southern Baptist University Bearcats, this meetup was more of a tune up for the Gorillas, as they take an opportunity to see how the team is shaping up to begin the season.
The Gorillas men’s team placed seventh out of nine teams, posting a score of 148 points. Rivals Missouri Southern State University took home first place with a low score of 37 points. The women’s team came in fifth out of nine teams, posting a score of 109 points. Once again, Missouri Southern’s women’s team took home the gold, scoring a low score of 38.
While these results might look disappointing, many of the Gorillas’ top performers from last season were held out of the race, as the team looks to evaluate its freshman and transfer class to start the season.
Last year was a landmark year for both men’s and women’s programs, as the men’s team posted their best ever finish, while the women’s came in top 20 in the country. The men’s team raced to a program best 16th place last year, as graduate student Matthew Oglesby earned his third All-American season. With players like him graduating, it will be up to the next cast of students to continue upon his success.
The Women’s team has much to build upon as well, as redshirt senior Claire Bruening came in 59th to pace the Gorillas. In a similar situation to the men’s team, the women’s team will have to continue to compete without the firepower of the previous year.
Breaking down the individual efforts of the inaugural competition, the Men’s team was paced by area freshman Houston McGown, who ran a 20:24.42 to come in at 13th overall. Freshman Liam Kirkpatrick ran a 20:49.81, finishing 30th, while redshirt freshman Kade Meinke came in 32nd with a 21:04.91. Senior Caden Uthe came in 36th, while redshirt junior Camron Jefferson was right behind at 37th. Freshman Tristan Kippes rounded out the team with freshman Jett Gilmore, coming in at 47th and 51st, respectively.
The women’s team had strong competition, with three performers coming in the top 20 of the meet. Redshirt sophomore Emily Vandaveer paced the Gorillas, placing 16th with a time of 19 minutes and 11.71 seconds. Redshirt junior Kelsey Bruening placed 16th, while freshman Caitlin White came in 20th, as they posted times of 19:19.83 and 19:23.57. The other four Gorillas all came within the top 40, as sophomore Ashyln Smith posted a 19:47.54, finishing 26th, redshirt freshman Aisley James came in 30th with a time of 20:04.40, freshman Eliz White came in 32nd with a time of 20:10.12, and sophomore Kendall Ramsey with a time of 20:24.16 came in at 36th overall.
It was a good first time showing for the Gorillas, and they will look to continue their growth this season as they travel to Joplin, MO, for the Missouri Southern Stampede this Saturday.