Drury cross country opens the season at Southwest Baptist on Friday

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— The Drury men’s and women’s cross country teams start the season Friday in the SBU Invitational at the Bolivar City Municipal Golf Course. The women’s event is a 5-kilometer race that starts at 5:15 pm, while the men’s teams will compete in a 4-mile race at 6 pm.
 
The Drury women’s team features defending Great Lakes Valley Conference individual champion Bradley Weimer, a junior from Springfield-Central. The Panthers are picked to finish third in the GLVC preseason coaches’ poll and also return Zoe Van Dijk (So., Apeldoorn, Netherlands), who finished eighth at the GLVC Championships last season, Mia Harris (Sr., West Plains, Mo.), and Luz Olivera (Sr., Arequipa, Peru).
 
Drury’s men’s squad was picked to finish fourth in the GLVC. Drury returns 13 from a team that finished fifth at the conference championships last year. Colby Garner (Jr., Springfield, Mo. – Kickapoo HS) returns after earning all-conference honors last year. Also back on the roster are William Kershaw (Jr., Nixa, Mo.), Gabe Bauer (So., Ozark, Mo.), Collin Emmert (So., Carl Junction, Mo.), and Ethan Haynes (So. Republic, Mo.). Drury’s newcomers include freshmen Tyler Harris and Kyle Keltner. Both were on Kickapoo’s state championship team as juniors in 2021, and they helped the Chiefs to a third place finish at the state meet as seniors last year.
 
Head coach Lee Wood enters his third year with the Panthers in 2023.
 
After their season-opening race, both cross country squads head to the Missouri Southern Stampede on Sept. 15 in Joplin.
 
 
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