MidAmerica Nazarene University's cross country teams combined for 13 collegiate personal bests Sept. 13 at the Queen City After Dark meet in Springfield, Mo.

The Pioneer women finished in the top 10 as a team, and the men placed 12th in a field that included NCAA Division I, Division II, NAIA and junior college programs, according to MNU's athletics department. It was the first meet result under head coach Clayton Pritchard, an MNU alumnus who was hired in July after 10 seasons as an assistant at North Dakota State. When he was named head coach on July 9, Pritchard said he was "very excited to get started building our staff, meeting the current Pioneer student athletes, and to get on the road recruiting the next great group of athletes to call MNU home."

The women's race began at 9:15 p.m. and the men's at 9:45 p.m. The flat course looped three times around well-lit soccer fields. Conditions were warm and humid.

Women's 5k

Bella Meili led the Pioneer women with a top-30 finish. Anna McKnight placed 34th, Riley Filmore 60th, Julia Swearengin 73rd, Kalana Smittick 96th, Josephine McClung 110th and Kennedy Krotzinger 124th.

Krotzinger was making her racing debut after being hampered by an injury.

Six of the seven women set collegiate personal bests: Meili, McKnight, Filmore, Swearengin, McClung and Krotzinger. The women also improved their team score by five points in the final kilometer, gaining ground from the 4k mark to the finish.

Men's 6k

Aidan Scherman paced the Pioneer men with a 53rd-place finish. Gavin Williams held his position through the final stretch, and Ray Kosgei, Ken Morgan and Josiah Robinson rounded out the scoring five. The men competed without a top runner, according to the MNU recap.

Seven men set 6k personal bests: Scherman, Williams, Morgan, Robinson, Jackson Elsey, Bryson Delong and Colin Baker. The men dropped their team score by 69 points between the 1k and 5k marks and shaved another five points in the closing kilometer.