Kansas Freshmen Avery Hale (MHA Nation) finishes in 5th place Overall at the 2016 Bob Timmons Dual Classic

LAWRENCE, Kan. – First on the list for Kansas’ men’s and women’s cross country teams was to run together. Second, was to finish near the top of the standings. Both goals were achieved Saturday morning as both squads opened the 2016 campaign with a sweep of the competition at the 2016 Bob Timmons Dual Classic at Rim Rock Farm.

Redshirt freshman Bryce Richards led a pack of six KU men’s runners in the top 10 during the 6K race and junior Hannah Dimmick was the leader of seven Jayhawk women among the top 10 in the 5K as Kansas topped UMKC, Oral Roberts and Kansas Wesleyan.

“I was really excited for both teams, we didn’t quite know what to expect with good competition for the race that we had,” Kansas head coach Stanley Redwine said. “I thought both teams really did well packing in front and staying in front. Coach (Michael) Whittlesey has been doing a really good job and they’ve been training – that’s what it looked like, so we’re excited about it.”

The men’s pack started together and continued to stick together for the majority of the race before Richards pushed ahead in the final segment. Morgan, who has exhausted his eligibilty, led wire-to-wire and broke away from the main pack of runners near the mile mark, while the rest of the Jayhawks remained clustered.

Richards finished nine seconds before his teammate sophomore Michael Melgares, who was third overall with a time of 19:40.86. The next two to cross the finish line were also Jayhawks. Junior Carson Vickroy and freshman Avery Hale (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation) followed closely behind Melgares with times of 19:42.05 and 19:43.49, respectively.

“That (packing) was the plan going into it,” Richards said. “Coach (Whittlesey) wanted us to stay controlled and make sure to own our home course. This really shows how my summer training has paid off and I’m really excited for the rest of the year.”

Rounding out the men’s scorers were senior Jacob Ryan (19:59.7) placing ninth, junior Adel Yoonis (20:08.6) claiming 11th, sophomore Ryan Liston (20:11.4) in 13th, senior Markeen Caine (20:42.2) at 17th and junior Jack McDonald, who ran his 6K in 20:56.7 for a 19th-place finish.