The 2007 teams for the both the men and women look to be young but will have some very talented runners with returnees and newcomers to the program. For full story click here.
Baker runners have strong showing in Louisiana
Since the end of the cross country season, the BU runners have spent their time training for a half marathon (13.1 miles) that they ran last weekend in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It took place on a beautiful course on LSU’s campus and around the lakes of Baton Rouge. By the time the race finished, the Wildcat athletes had made their. With more than 600 runners competing, Andrew McGregor and Chris Scheideman finished in the top five overall, both placing first in their age groups. Finishing second and third in the 19-and-under groups were BU runners Nick Wagoner and AJ Jimenez. Eleven team members ran the race. Only two of them had ever competed in a half marathon (13.1 miles) before. Click here for link to race pictures.
Race Results:
Men:
Andrew McGregor – 4th overall and 1st in age group
Chris Scheideman – 5th overall and 1st in age group
Nick Wagoner – 2nd in age group
AJ Jimenez – 3rd in age group
Justin Hill and Zac Towns – Solid times for the middle distance runners
Women:
Amber Keith – 4th in age group
Shawnee Barron – 5th in age group
Ari Penner – 6th in age group
Linda Rodriguez and Mary Loveland – Steady effort for the longest run in their freshman careers
Baker runners end with strong showing
The Wildcat men’s and women’s cross country teams concluded their season on Saturday in Lamoni, IA hosted by Graceland University. It was a beautiful day on a great course and the Cats wrapped up the season with seven season bests performances.
On the ladies side Baker’s top runner was Amber Keith who ran a season best with a time of 20:18 placing her 30th overall. Mary Loveland was the second finisher for BU running a much stronger race with a time of 20:49 and finishing 42nd. Kelsey Heckathorne, new to cross country this year, ran her strongest race of the year with a 30 second PR at a time of 20:58. Linda Rodriguez and Ari Penner rounded out the top five. The Lady Cats placed seventh as a team.
The Baker men’s top runner was Senior Andrew McGregor. In his last cross country race of his four year career at Baker University, he ran a season best of 28:41and placed 65th overall. Freshman Chris Scheideman finished as the second runner for BU with a lifetime best of 28:49 and only 2 spots behind Andrew. Next to him was Zach Towns, running 28:59, a life time best by over a minute and had a terrific race. Nick Wagoner and Justin Hill, both ran a lifetime best of 29:26, and rounded out the top five for the Wildcats.
Coach Kindler’s thoughts on the year; “Overall I am pleased with the season, but I am extremely excited with the future to come. We will only be losing one senior between the men and women’s teams, so we look to continue to improve with maturity and new comers to the program.” Kindlers team will be traveling to Baton Rouge on December 1st to run a half marathon and will then get things started into indoor track and field season which will start on Jan 11th at Graceland University.
Baker Runners Compete at ESU
On Friday Evening the Wildcats competed at Jones Park hosted by Emporia State University against NCAA DII, Junior College, and NAIA schools. Overall we did well and had 5 season bests.
On our ladies side our top runner was Mary Loveland, who had a life time best with 20:24 placing her 28th out 92 runners. Other season bests were Ari Penner, with a time of 20:59.98 unofficially, Kelsey Heckathorne with 21:28.00, and Shawnee Barron with a time of 22:02. We are still struggling in some areas of our race but we are coming along and look pretty good for the conference meet in three weeks.
On our men's side our top runner was Andrew McGregor, our only senior, with a seasonal best of 29:23. The rest of the men's finish in behind him but we were missing AJ Jimenez this week due to a slight strain in the calf, we decided to hold him out this weekend.
Our next meet will be held in Winfield Kansas hosted by Southwestern College, this is a very big meet with about 30-35 NAIA teams and is a great pre-race for our conference meet, which is hosted by Mid-American Nazarene this year at Olathe Lake. Thanks for support for the Running Wildcats and the support for all Baker Athletics. GO CATS!!!!
Coach Kindler
Baker Runners Have Good Showing
The Wildcats' ran their 4th meet of the season at Marion Reservoir hosted by Tabor College on Saturday. It was a much small meet than what we have been so far and we had some pretty good performances.
The top runner on our men’s side was Nick Wagoner who had a great race and having a seasonal best by 1 minute and 18 seconds which placed him in the top 20. Chris Scheideman, AJ Jimenez, Andrew McGregor, and Justin Hill rounded out our top 5 spots.
I am very proud of how they are running and we are starting to come on stronger each week. We will be in competition again Friday evening in Emporia against a lot of DII, Junior College and other NAIA schools. It is very exciting to see all the Baker Cross Country fans out at the courses each weekend and thanks for the support. Good Luck to all Wildcat Athletics and GO CATS!!!!
Coach Kindler
Women 4th Men 7th
The Baker Wildcats competed in our second meet of the year at Warrensburg hosted by University of Central Missouri. The weather was bearable but very muggy and the competition was mostly our region v teams with central Missouri.
On the ladies side our top runner was freshman Chelsea Tweitmeyer who ran a time of 16:20 and finished 26th. Our next runner was Mary Loveland our top runner last week and she finished 29th with a time of 16:24. Our rest of our top five went amber Keith, 36th 16:45, Linda rodriguez, 46th 17:14, Ari Penner, 51 17:20. Our ladies are starting to run stronger but we are still pretty broke down with some heavy legs. Once we start to get some more recovery time then our times will drop. Keep in mind though; we beat every conference school there but Mid America who is currently ranked in the top 25. The only other that will be a challenge for us is Lindenwood, so this gets us excited about the conference meet at the end of the season.
On our men's side our top runner was Donnie Gardner with his first meet placing 24th with a time of 22:07. Our next two runners were our top two freshman, Nick Wagoner placing 53rd with a 23:11 and Chris Scheideman 57th with a 23:19. Andrew McGregor and AJ Jimenez wrapped up the rest of our top 5. Same thing with the men as the ladies, we just need to keep getting stronger each week but it was a good show for our conference and region and we found out that it is going to be very challenging.
I am excited about our freshman and the name they are making at Baker. We had 3 in our top 5 for the ladies and 2 in the top 5 for the men. This not only gets me excited this year but also what is to come for Baker University cross country.
Our team looks to be back in action next weekend at the Woody Greeno Invitational hosted by University of Nebraska on September 15th. Great to see the BU cross country fans at Warrensburg and thanks for all the support for all baker athletics!!!!
Head Coach Zach Kindler
Freshman make their mark for Baker!
The Baker University Cross Country team competed in its first meet this weekend Sept. 1 at Baldwin City Golf Course. The women placing 4th and men came in 5th. Overall, it was a beautiful Saturday morning with a great Baker Crowd out supporting the team.
The Baker ladies top runner was a freshman from Wichita, Mary Loveland. She placed 15th overall with a time of 12:44. Freshman, Chelsea Tweitmeyer, came in as the second Wildcat runner with a time of 13:03 and placing 24th. Amber Keith, Baker's top returner came in 27th overall and was BU's third runner. Wrapping up the Wildcat's top five was Ari Penner, 30th and Katie James, 39th.
On the men's side, Baker's top runner was another freshman, Chris Scheideman (pictured), who placed 16th with a time of 17:03, a life time best in the 5k by 30 seconds. Nick Wagoner, another freshman finished as the second runner for the Wildcat's in 21st position with a time of 17:24. AJ Jimenez, 29th, Andrew McGregor, 32nd, and Justin Hill, 33rd, finish off BU's top five. "I was very pleased with the way the guys ran and look forward to get the rest of the team joining them to fill out the team," said first year Baker Coach, Zach Kindler.
"It was a great start and challenge for the Wildcats and we look to continue our season next week at Warrenberg at Central Missouri Friday evening. I was very EXCITED to see all the Wildcat Cross Country Fan out there and want to thank you for all the support for all Wildcat Athletics!"
Schedule/Results
- Sept. 28: at Emporia St. Inv. 5:45 p.m.
- Oct. 13: at Mid-State Classic (Winfield, KS), 10:45 a.m.
- Oct. 20: HAAC Championship (Mid America), 11:45 a.m.
- Nov. 3: Region V Championship (TBA) 11:45 a.m.
- Nov. 17: NAIA National Championship (Kenosha, Wis.) 11:45 a.m.
About
Baker Men's Cross Country
Zach Kindler Head Coach
Phone: 785 594-4580
E-mail: zach.kindler@bakeru.edu
Dan
Harris Athletics Director
Phone: 785 594-8474
E-mail: dan.harris@bakeru.edu
Justin Bloomer
Josh Buford Sports Information Director
Phone: 785 594-8463
E-mail: justin.bloomer@bakeru.edu
PO
Box #65 / 618 Eighth Street
Baldwin City, KS 66006-0065
1-800-873-4282
Women 4th Men 7th 
