Weather tried to play spoiler to the first meet of the year with two lightning delays and a rain soaked men's race, but the Pratt Community College cross country team saw their first action of the 2017 season. The Beavers ran in the Terry Masterson Twilight Classic hosted by Hutchinson Community College. The Blue and White competed against 10 other schools on the women's side and 12 schools on the men's side.

The Terry Masterson Twilight Classic started with the women's three mile run. Pratt's Aminata Kenyawini led the Blue and White with a top 25 finish running a 20:00.32 race. Following her was Anastasia Graves (20:44.37) and Leeasha Madison (21:19.68) breaking into the top 50 out of a 95 woman field.

"The women's race saw a lot of personal bests for the first cross country race of the season," said head coach Eric Larson. "The learning curve of running a cross country race is coming along faster than expected with the core of the top five middle distance runners. I liked how they competed. We were missing one of the girls who will be a point scorer down the road. We have work ahead of us, but I like where we are. Training is going to start to ramp up and intensify this week. This race was more of a time trial."

Just as the men were getting ready to start their four mile race, lightning and thunder cracked the sky causing a delay and soaking the course. After the delay the men were off to close out the night. The Beavers were led by Izak Molterno who ran a 23:15.69 race and averaged a 5:49.0 mile average. Xavier Ortiz (23:28.71) and Elijah Battle (23:31.25) rounded out the top 60 out of a 114 man field.

"The men's race had more downs than ups," Larson said. "The race overall was very slow with weather factors, delays, and the tightness of the course, but I still did not like how the men competed. We just didn't have the fire edge needed to run better. I did like how some of the freshmen competed for their first race over 5,000 meter. I like running a four mile race to start the season because it is the best stimulation possible to an 8,000 meter race. We will take this experience into practice this week and learn from it. Training is going to ramp up and intensify just like the girls."

PCC cross country looks to improve on the Terry Masterson Twilight Classic when they run in the Missouri Southern State University Southern Stampede on Sept. 16 in Joplin, MO.