Cross Country Sweeps Austin Peay Festival Titles Saturday

Saturday, September 23

Clarksville, Tenn.

9 am

University of Memphis

Austin Peay Festival (M: 6k/W: 5k)

Mary Betsy Minkler, 2017 Women's Cross Country

Photo by: Matthew Smith

Cross Country Sweeps Austin Peay Festival Titles Saturday

Sep 23, 2017 | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

Austin Peay Festival Results (Men/Women)

Kamph takes men's race honors, Minkler second in women's race.

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – University of Memphis sophomore Matthew Kamph won the men's title, and senior Mary Betsy Minkler was the Tigers' women's top finisher in leading the cross country squads to a sweep of the team crowns at the 2017 Austin Peay Festival Saturday.

It is the second year in a row Memphis won both the men's and women's championships at the Austin Peay event.

Kamph won his first collegiate race in a time of 18:14.0, which was 13 seconds ahead of his teammate and second-place finisher Matthew Viveiros. On the women's side, Minkler was second overall in a time of 18:17.9.

Up Next
Memphis runs in the Greater Louisville Classic Sept. 30. It is the third week in a row the Tigers are in competition. E.P. "Tom" Sawyer Park is the host site of next week's race. The park also hosts the 2017 Atlantic Coast Conference and NCAA championships.

Tigers Tidbits/Austin Peay Festival Highlights
Men's Team

The Tigers won the team title, marking the fourth time in the last six seasons the men's squad won at least one team crown.
The men's race was originally scheduled as a four-mile event. However, with the change of venue, the distance was changed to a 6k race.
All five runners that counted toward the team score finished in the top-10.
Memphis took the top-three individual spots, with Matthew Kamph first (18:14.0), Matthew Viveiros second (18:27.0) and Julian Sanchez-Pinto third (18:27.6).
The race was Sanchez-Pinto's first of 2017, as he missed the season's first two races as a result of an injury.

Women's Team

The Tigers women's squad took the Austin Peay Festival team crown. It is the fifth time in the last six seasons Memphis placed first in at least one race.
All five runners that counted in the team score placed in the top-15. Six of the top-seven finished in the top-20.
Four of the Tigers' top-seven finishers were freshmen: Lora Gonzalez, Ashley Peterson, Hannah Pettigrew and Jennifer Taylor.
Mary Betsy Minkler logged her highest finish in her two-year career at Memphis, coming in second Saturday. Her previous-best performance was 13^th in the 2016 Rhodes College Invitational.
Minkler also ran her career-best 5k time, topping her previous-best time by nearly 13 seconds (18:30.5 as a sophomore at Williams Baptist College in 2015).
Minkler's second-place performance, though, was not her career-best. As a sophomore at Williams Baptist College in 2015, Minkler won the University of the Ozarks Invitational 5k women's race.
Junior Kristen Adams posted her best 5k time since her freshman campaign in 2014. Her 18:42.8 time Saturday was her season personal-best by over 1:00.
All four freshmen ran season 5k personal-bests Saturday: Gonzalez by over 1:25, Peterson by over 1:00, Pettigrew by over 30 seconds, and Taylor by over 35 seconds.
Arnica Zitting, Megan Briley, Paige Sandwell and Lauren Wheeler did not run Saturday, taking a recovery weekend to prepare for the Sept. 30 Greater Louisville Classic.

Memphis Results (top 5 finishes count in team score)

Women's Race (5k); Memphis Team Finish: 1^st (27 points)

Place	Name	Time
2	Mary Betsy Minkler	18:17.9
3	Kristen Adams	18:42.8
4	Lora Gonzalez	18:45.4
5	Jennifer Taylor	19:50.5
13	Hannah Pettigrew	19:37.3
19	Bailey Kennemer	20:11.2
26	Ashley Peterson	20:37.0

Men's Race (6k); Memphis Team Finish: 1^st (20 points)

Place	Name	Time
1	Matthew Kamph	18:14.0
2	Matthew Viveiros	18:27.0
3	Julian Sanchez-Pinto	18:27.6
6	Brock Ballard	18:50.3
8	LaForrest Church	18:51.3
12	James Durkin	19:18.4
43	Hunter Magno Hester	22:01.8