George And Tonui 1-2 In Chile Pepper Triumph

Chile Pepper Results

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The No. 5 Arkansas men’s cross country program claimed the 2016 Chile Pepper Festival team title Saturday morning at Agri Park in dominant fashion, besting meet runner-ups Wichita State by an 83-point margin.

The Razorbacks were once again led by Alex George who raced to the No. 1 spot among D-I competitors with a new 8K personal best of 23 minutes, 33.12 seconds – a 2.50 second improvement from his performance in 2015.

George was joined in the top ranks by teammate Frankline Tonui who closed a fraction of a second behind to place second in D-I competition and third overall with 23:33.22.

Making their season debuts at the Chile Pepper, All-SEC returners Jack Bruce and Austen Dalquist did not disappoint. Bruce and Dalquist both opened up their junior campaigns with sub-24 minute 8K performances, good for top-10 finishes in the D-I competition as well as third and fourth place, respectively, for the Razorbacks.

Arkansas’ top five was completed by sophomore Cameron Griffith who clocked a huge PR of 24:06.82 to solidify the Razorbacks’ team victory.

Iowa Central transfer Kyle Hosting and freshman Carter Persyn made their way into the Razorbacks’ top seven with tremendous performances of their own.

In a field featuring 201 entries, Arkansas’ nine runners all completed the 8K course inside the top 26.

With the Chile Pepper Festival in the books, Arkansas will now turn its attention toward the Pre-National meet in two weeks which will serve as its final regular season tune-up.

Top Five Team Results
1. Arkansas, 32 (1-2-7-10-12)
2. Wichita State, 115 (14-19-21-26-35)
3. Missouri, 115 (9-22-24-27-33)
4. Texas Tech, 132 (3-4-28-40-57)
5. Villanova, 149 (5-17-30-41-56)

Arkansas Results (D-I Overall Finishes)
1. Alex George – 23:33.12
2. Frankline Tonui – 23:33.22
7. Jack Bruce – 23:54.68
10. Austen Dalquist – 23:58.56
12. Cameron Griffith – 24:06.82
16. Kyle Hosting – 24:21.46
18. Carter Persyn – 24:27.00
21. Kyle Levermore – 24:34.77
26. Aidan Swain – 24:45.81

2016 Cross Country Schedule
Thurs, Sept. 1 – Cowboy Duals (Stillwater, Okla.) | 4th of 6
Fri, Sept. 16 – Battle in Beantown (Boston, Mass.) | 3rd of 15
Sat, Oct. 1 – Chile Pepper Festival (Agri Park) 9:45 a.m. | 1st of 18
Sat, Oct. 15 – Pre-Nationals (Terre Haute, Ind.) 10:35 a.m.
Fri, Oct. 28 – SEC Championship (Agri Park) 11:00 a.m.
Fri, Nov. 11 – NCAA South Central Regional (Agri Park) 12:00 p.m.
Sat, Nov. 19 – NCAA Championship (Terre Haute, Ind.) 11:00 a.m.

Bold denotes a home event.

For more information on Arkansas track and field including in-meet updates, follow @RazorbackTF on Twitter.