Moving up the ranks down the stretch, the Barton Community College men's cross country team finished 19th this past weekend at the competitive FHSU Tiger Open held in Victoria, Kansas.  Posting season and personal bests among the 8k race, Barton competed amongst twenty-two teams and 226 runners.  The Cougars will now get ready for their final tune-up before the Region VI Championships, competing in the Bethel Invitational October 18th at North Newton, Kansas. 

Virginian sophomore Tyler Lumpkin shaved over four minutes to run a season best 27:30.50 to finish in 142nd place, seven seconds ahead of teammate Chon Chavez.  Chavez, a freshman from Great Bend, led the Cougars placing in the season's first three meets, finished in 27:37.20 to eclipse his personal best by nearly ninety-seconds.  Genesis Rose, also a Great Bend native, ran nearly four minutes faster than his previous best clocking in at 29:32.40 for 192nd place.   Larned's Zach Wilson, competing in his first 8k of the season, finished in 210th place in a time of 31:14.30.  Also competing in his first 8k and meet of the season was Josh Watson as the sophomore from Virginia ran a 31:29.80 to finish in 212th place.

As a team the Cougars finished 19th out of 22 teams, only the second time this season Barton was healthy enough to field a complete team.  The Cougars average time was 29:28.84 with a total time of 2:27:24.20.