Korir, Higgins pace UW runners

By Wyoming Sports.org

Wyoming senior Mark Korir and junior Emily Higgins paced the Wyoming cross country teams to second-place finished Friday at the Wyoming Invitational at Red Jacoby Golf Course.

Korir, a two-time all-American, led the charge for the Cowboys, as he won the first meet of this early season. Korir, the reigning champion, ran a time of 21 minutes, 45 seconds, in the 6.8k race, just two seconds off his course record he set last year. He was followed closely by fellow senior Michael Huntington with a time of 22:03. The two Cowboys ran strongly together most of the way until Korir kicked it into overdrive over the last half of the course.

“Both Mark (Korir) and Michael (Huntington) ran smart, clean races,” Wyoming head coach Randy Cole said. “They ran within themselves and Mark showed today that he will be tough to beat throughout the year. As for Michael, he ran one of the best races in his extensive career here at UW.”

Also for Wyoming, sophomore Seth Grossman crossed the tape in 11th place with a time of 22:49, with senior Brett Schuler right on his tail in 13th place in 23:04.

“If our men can continue the pack they had going through the first half of the race, we will have a very strong team,” continued Cole on the second place finish for the men.

Higgins was the leader for the Cowgirls, as she blazed through the fairways to a second-place finish and a time of 15:07. Higgins ran most of the race in second place and could not catch Colorado State freshman, Ellie Rastall, who ran a time of 14:49. Two sophomore Cowgirls finished behind Higgins, as Alysha Davis and Emily Byra placed seventh and 11th respectively.

“Emily (Higgins) had a very strong race and looked good throughout but it just wasn’t enough for her to catch Rastall of CSU,” said Cole. “Alysha Davis and Emily Byra are way ahead of where they were last year and are going to be two very strong runners for us down the road. We have a few runners that will close that gap as the season progresses, and I am excited for this team come conference.”

Up next for Wyoming will be the Montana State Invitational in Bozeman, Mont., on Sept. 20.

“This will be a nice block of training for the next three weeks, as we prepare to take on some very good teams that we don’t usually get to see until Regionals,” said Cole.