Carter Earns Top-Six Finish, Baker Cross Country Hosts Wildcat XC Classic

BALDWIN CITY – Hosting the first of two home meets this fall, Baker cross country competed in the 2025 Wildcat XC Classic on Saturday morning at the Baldwin City Golf Course where both Wildcats teams came away with a third-place finish.

The morning began with Rockhurst claiming three of the first four finishers in the men's 8K to take first in the team standings with 26 points. Benedictine came in second with 30 points, followed by Baker (83) and Ottawa (117).

Luke Persson led a pack of Wildcats that finished among the top-20 runners with Persson placing 14th on a time of 27:23.49. Grayson Fink (27:35.32), Cutter Meade (27:47.48) and Jacob McGlasson (27:55.53) came across in near consecutive order with Fink finishing in 17th, Meade in 18th and McGlasson in 20th. Grant Gogis (28:38.51) rounded out the scoring for BU and took 29th.

In the women's 6K race, the Ravens collected five of the top-eight scores to earn first-place honors with 24 points. Rockhurst (43) finished ahead of the Wildcats (68) in the second, while Ottawa (113) took fourth.

Haley Carter (23:39.92) placed sixth in a competitive women's field that featured 40 runners to pace the BU women. Ellie Barnard (24:19.60) was the next to cross for BU, finishing in 11th, followed by Jana Landreth (25:17.61) in 16th, Natalie Kennedy (25:37.92) in 20th and Haley Thompson (27:51.11) in 33rd.

Saturday's competition was the first of two meets hosted by the Wildcats this year with the 2025 Mike Spielman Classic set for October 17 in Baldwin City.

Up next, Baker will take a break before heading to the Grand View Invitational on Sept. 20 at 11 a.m. in Des Moines, Iowa

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