Magnolia, Ark. - Both the Mulerider Men's and Women's Cross Country teams are looking to replicate last year's performances after claiming first place titles in the 11th Lois Davis Invitational. Graduate student Rob Kraus is definitely looking for a repeat of events as well. Kraus' current 8k personal best was set last year at the LDI, a time of 25:28.5 which placed him 1st in the 47-competitor field.
Seven other Mulerider Men finished in the top-10 including senior Hector Hernandez, sophomore Jorge Sanchez and sophomore Pedro Cervantes. Hernandez has competed in three Lois Davis Invitationals while teammate Kraus has competed in four. Hernandez's current personal best 8k is a time that was set in the 2019 LDI, 26:25.6 which landed him a 14th place finish. His most recent 8k was a 41st place finish at the Chile Pepper Festival with a time of 26:40.2.
Kraus ran his first sub-27-minute 8k at the 2019 9th LDI where he claimed 16th place with a time of 26:37.5. He then went on to record his first sub-26-minute 8k two years later at the 11th Lois Davis Invitational. This season he has recorded one sub-26-minute 8k, a 25:59.1 11th place finish at the infamous Chile Pepper Festival.
Junior Briston Rains has also competed in two Lois Davis Invitationals, with his collegiate debut coming at the January 2021 LDI where he placed 28th of 29 with a time of 33:04.9. During the fall of the same year, Rains recorded his current 8k personal best, 29:29.1 to finish 21st of 47. Transfer student Miguel Diaz competed in the race last fall, running for his previous college, University of Arkansas Rich Mountain. Diaz recorded a 27th place finish with a time of 29:46.6, averaging 6:00.0 a mile.
On the women's side of things, Southern Arkansas claimed spots two through five to find their first-place finish, 55 points ahead of the second-place team. Sophomore Logan Warren's third place finish still stands as her best 5k finish of her career. Warren is currently putting up times significantly faster (19:07.4 Chile Pepper Festival, 18:58.6 Southern Stampede) than her 19:49.6 that she ran last year at the LDI.
Junior Dakota Cassidy has competed in two Lois Davis Invitationals, both in 2021. The January 30, 2021 LDI was Cassidy's collegiate debut which resulted in an 18th of 42 finish with a time of 20:42.9. In the fall Lois Davis, she improved to 19:52.0 to finish 4th of the 43 runners. Since her last competition on the grounds of SAU, Cassidy has improved to a personal best of 18:53.7 (set at the 2022 Bob Gravett Invitational) and has consistently posted times of 19:40.
Muleriders Bronwyn Buchanan, Alyzah McGlasson, Victoria Cheney and Alyssa Solis have all competed in the Lois Davis Invitational with Buchanan and McGlasson competing in both of the 2021 races and Solis competing in three dating back to the fall of 2018. Buchanan and McGlasson both made their collegiate debuts in the January Lois Davis, placing 26th (Buchanan, 21:25.5) and 27th (McGLasson, 21:31.3). Both Muleriders improved in the fall, once again finishing back to back, in 7th (Buchanan, 20:37.7) and 8th (McGlasson, 20:53.5) places. McGlasson has since improved to multiple sub-20-minute finishes. Solis has recorded 22:14.6 (2018, 14th), 18:54.8 (2019, 10th) and 23:16.5 (Fall 2021, 25th) finishes. Solis' current personal best stands as her 2019 5k time from the Lois Davis Invitational. Her most recent 5k finish was 22:16.3 at the Chile Pepper Festival.
This year there will be 13 different teams represented in the women's field and 12 different teams representing the men's field, the most teams the course has seen.
Them women begin the 5k at 5:30 p.m. and the men's 8k will follow at 6:00. Live scoring as well as live streaming will be available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
