The weather outside was frightful, but the Midwestern State cross country team was able to fire up enough energy to be placed second at the Sikes Senter Cross Country Carnival Saturday morning.

However, Head Cross Country Coach Koby Styles claimed that the weather actually worked out well for the team.

“The cold weather, minus the wind, is ideal,” he said. “We prefer to run when it’s cooler than when it’s hot.”

Brittany Adams, who placed fourth overall, led the Lady Mustangs as she clocked 23:41.56. The freshman was followed by Abigail Gonzalez (23:42.97) and Maira Salinas (23:45.13) at fifth and sixth respectively.

“I think we could have done a little better,” Styles said. “We went out a little conservative.”

Styles also explained that the length of the course affected the girls’ performance at the meet. MSU probably would have won the competition had it been a shorter race.

“It was a longer race than most of the girls are used to,” he said. “We have a young team and are still getting used to the distance.”

Tylo Farrar placed ninth for Midwestern after clocking 23:52.49, while Ana Lopez (24:19.49) and Nadia Majed (24:28.26) placed 12th and 13th correspondingly.

“If we had gone a little bit aggressively, the result would have been different,” Styles said.

Other  runners include Cara Mack (24:43.75), Alex Kohrs (24:52.27), Heather Owens (25:06.73), Carrie Finson (25:56.35) and Danielle Androes (26:47.23).

MSU’s total running time was 1:59:22.09, with the runners clocking an average of 23:52.42.

Central Oklahoma placed first overall with a total of 1:59:49.51 and an average of 23:57.91.

Midwestern State will focus their attention on the Lone Star Conference that will be hosted by Cameron University on Oct. 20. In preparation of this great event, Styles held out four top runners to get them rested for their upcoming meet.

MSU has a chance to win its fifth straight conference championship, a challenge which Styles and his team have accepted.

“Our season starts now,” he said. “We are all about winning the championships. That’s going to be our main goal.”