By Taylor Starr
At the Great Plains Intercollegiate Challenge Meet, the McPherson Men’s Cross Country team ran the fastest team time since 1976. The 1976 record is 2:9:11 (25:72 average), set by Dewayne Jackson (24:43), Fred Wilson (25:25), David Burgess (26:18), Paul Neher (26:22) and Jim Lovercamp (26:23). The 2022 men’s team ran 2:14:30 (26:54 average) with the times of Alex Holmes (26:01), Wyatt Allen (26:06), Kaleb Gaona (27:12), Cody Kuss (27:17), and Cale Sterling (27:52). Of those five to help run the fastest since 1976, four of them are freshman. They did not surpass the record this year, but it isn’t out of the question for future seasons.
This year’s men’s team consists of Wyatt Allen, Kaleb Gaona, Austin Glezen, Isaac Hale, Alexander Holmes, Liam Jones, Cody Kuss, Christopher Miller, Austin Moffet, Parker Roberts, Cale Sterling, Reagan Thai and Todd Truelove. On Nov. 5, the men’s and women’s cross country team took on the KCAC Championship meet at Winfield, Kansas. The men’s team placed seventh and the women’s team placed sixth. The cross country teams were named “KCAC Teams of Character” and had 11 team members who were on the All-KCAC Academic Team. “This season was a great step in the direction we want to go. Both teams won a meet, ran fastest team times in several years. Conference place didn’t change much from last year, but when you look at scores and times, we’re getting there, and closing the gap,” said Chad Clevenger, Head Cross Country Coach, “We lose two seniors who are big for us culture wise. Georgia and Todd are fantastic people and epitome of a Champion of Character student-athletes! When we break it down into numbers, losing two off this year’s roster, the future looks very bright. I’m excited about the foundation we’ve set, and very excited about the future. Women wise, we return four women who have made our schools all-time top 20 times list, and our top 12 men all return next year.”
