In the final meet before the Region VI Championships, the Barton women’s cross country took a small contingent to the Fort Hays State Tiger Open over the weekend.
The Cougars took three runners to the meet held at the Sand Plum Nature Trail in Victoria. One Barton runner ran in the Gold race while the other two competed in the Black race.
The Gold race featured NCAA Division II schools including No. 1 ranked Adams State (Colo) and No. 4 ranked Western State (Colo). In addition there were two more top 20 teams at the race.
That is the competition which Barton freshman standout Mirena Goncalves ran in the Gold race. Goncalves finished in 33rd place with her time of 18:08.4. The winning time was a sizzling 16:33.7 by Georgia Porter of Western State.
Goncalves time would have put her in a battle for the runner-up in the Black race. There Shanieke Watson of Iowa Western won in 17:57.1 while Lorena Moreno of St. Mary took second in 18:08.2.
The top Barton runner in the Black race was fellow freshman Wilyeska Suarez, taking ninth in 18:59.3 Great Bend sophomore Mariah Stein also finished in the top half of the race with a 20:37.3, good for 71st in the field of 165 runners.
Cowley College won the Black race with an 83 followed by Friends with 107. Colby took third with 118.
Barton will look to field five runners at the Region VI meet and compete for a high finished. The meet will take place Westar/Prairie Ridge Park on Oct. 29.

Fort Hays State Tiger Open
Black Race – 5K
Team Scores
1 Cowley College 83
2 Friends 107
3 Colby 118
4 Allen 121
5 St Mary 148
6 Iowa Western 230
7 Sterling 241
8 Dodge City 255
9 Trinidad State 264
10 Johnson & Wales 280
11 Hutchinson 280
12 Cloud County 281
13 Tabor 336
14 Highland 344
15 Colorado College 346
16 McPherson 356
17 Northwest Oklahoma 399
18 Garden City 487
19 Bethany 496

Individual Top 10
1 Shanieke Watson, Iowa Western, 17:57.1
2 Lorena Moreno, St Mary, 18:08.2
3 Winnie Kibet, Colby, 18:17.5
4 Samantha Barela, Johnson & Wales, 18:23.4
5 Christa Follette, Friends, 18:26.4
6 Naomi Similus, Cowley, 18:27.8
7 Stephanie Barrett, Cloud, 18:50.8
8 Vicky Ibarra, Allen, 18:52.2
9 Wilyeska Suarez, Barton, 18:59.3
10 Abby Steinhauser, Allen, 19:00.8

Barton results
33 Mirena Goncalves, 18:08.4 (Gold race)
9 Wilyeska Suarez, 18:59.3
71 Mariah Stein, 20:37.3