Sabercats Denied National Trifecta, Take 3rd in Jackson
- Placement: Women (5K) - 2nd of 4 | Men (8K) - 3rd of 6
- Venue: Choctaw Trails | Clinton, Miss.
- Conditions: Sunny, Mild
- Top Runners: Katie Holbrook (3rd - 19:42) | Josh Kruit (8th - 29:23)
- Holbrook repeated her story from the 2015 National Meet by finishing in third place overall. The Senior edged her 2015 Nationals time by 11 seconds to finish at 19:42 in the 5K. Holbrook has now finished in the top three in each of her appearances at the National meet.
- The Sabercats showed strong pack running, as their middle five runners finished in a 63-second span.
- In their first 5K of the season, the Sabercat runners and their times are noted below. Those runners with PR's denoted with an asterisk; those with a season PR are noted with an arrow:
- 3rd - Katie Holbrook (19:43.40)^
- 13th - Kimberly Richerson (21:09.97)*
- 14th - Sarah Vander Pluym (21:15.82)^
- 21st - Madelyn Hansel (21:51.47)*
- 22nd - Anna Brown (22:07.30)*
- 23rd - Alicyn Wigdal (22:12.60)*
- 34th - Nicole Verhalen (23:46.10)*
- Hansel shattered her 2015 Nationals time by over two minutes, as she posted a time of 24:16 last year.
- Five of seven runners posted PR's while Holbrook and Vander Pluym registered their best 5K time of the season.
- All times are compared to the 5K splits from the six 6K events that the Sabercats competed in this season.
- The total time of 1:46:34 was the Sabercats' best squad time this year.
- Josh Kruit led the Men's Squad with an 8th-place time of 29:23, which is his best time of the season and just under 30 seconds shy of his collegiate PR.
- Three runners posted a collegiate PR while Josh Kruit registered his best time this season.
- The Sabercat runners and their overall results are noted below. Those runners with PR's denoted with an asterisk; those with a season PR are noted with an arrow:
- 8th - Josh Kruit (29:23.76)^
- 9th - Kurt Wagner (29:32.52)
- 17th - Cameron Rankin (30:11.46)
- 22nd - Robert Kile (30:34.89)*
- 23rd - Rory Massey (30:50.45)*
- 24th - Jeremiah Doak (31:00.51)*
- 42nd - Matthew Nutzhorn (33:20.75)
- The squad's combined time of 2:30:33 was their best of the season.
- The team showed their characteristically-strong pack running as the top six runners finished in a 97-second span.
- Both squads finish their season today. The Women's Squad finishes the year with three top-five finishes, and Holbrook takes home top-10 honors in six of the seven events to end her MBU career.
- Holbrook ends her three-year tenure by holding both the top 5K time (19:21 in 2014) and 6K time (24:13 on October 8th) in MBU Women's Cross Country History.
- Both Sabercat squads boasted the maximum seven runners at the national meet and recorded the best time as a team as season.