Emporia State alumni joined the cross country team last Friday for their home meet, the Planet Sub Invitational at Jones Park. The meet consisted of entries from 25 different schools and had over 350 runners.

For the last decade, alumni have had the opportunity to race against and alongside current ESU cross country runners. This year was one of the largest turnouts with 12 alumni, and according to Trey Brokaw, assistant coach, senior physical education major and former ESU cross country runner, said this was the best chance to beat the current runners.

“There are a few of us still in town and some going through the master program, so we could get together and train,” Broskaw said. “It is just kind of a rag tag team, and everybody does their part, and we come together the day of the race and try to put together a good team effort.”

The alumni went all out this year, even making jerseys with an aging Corky with a cane and beard. Three out of last year’s four seniors returned, including Asher Delmott who lead the alum team, the “Old Guys,” placing 14th and helping them place eighth overall with a time of 27:37.20.

On the women’s side of the meet, Fort Hays State won the meet with an average time of 18:57.10. ESU came in eighth out of 18 teams with an average 5k time of 20:25.56. The men came in fifth out of 19 teams with an average 8k time of 27:20.32.

Brock Ternes also ran for the “Old Guys” and placed 21st with a time of 26:37.60. Skyler Delmott, William Hohmeier, Ryan Hahn, Jason Dolan, Adam McGovern and Luke Weins also ran for the alumni.

Freshman accounting major, Lindsay Cuadra was the top performer for the Hornets on the women’s side with a time of 19:57.30, and she placed 32nd out of 148 runners in the 5k race.

“It felt really good to be the top runner for the girls,” Cuadra said. “The home meet was a different feeling, made me more pumped up not as focused on the race, in good way. I just focused on people cheering me on.”

The women had four runners place in the top 51. Those runners included freshman Taylor Stueve in 37th place, sophomore Susan Welte in 50th place, and freshman Dominique Staats who placed 51st.

For freshman accounting major Kayla Lansing, the home crowd advantage was a good experience.

“It was fun running in front of the home crowd, but it was also nerve-racking because I really wanted to do my best,” Lansing said.

Lansing placed 80th with a time of 21:17.90.

On the men’s side, FHSU had five runners place in the top 10. The top runner for ESU was sophomore Morgan Riggs, who placed 25th out of 162 runners with a time of 26:52.50 in the 8k race.

The men’s team had four runners place in the top 50. Those runners included freshman Daniel Claassen in 28th place, Brian Mosier in 35th place and Jacob Bull, who placed 49th.

Mosier, a freshman mathematics major, said he had his best race of the season so far.

“It was nice to perform well in front of the home crowd,” Mosier said. “I’m excited to see what we can do. It seems like we always step up for competition, and I think we can all run faster than we have been.”

The Hornets’ next meet, the MIAA Cross Country Championships, is in Maryville, Mo. Oct. 20.