The Allen Community College buses had a very busy Labor Day weekend.
Red Devil cross country, soccer and volleyball all were in action this weekend, with each facing long road trips.
Allen’s cross country team made the longest trip and sophomore Ricardo Banuelos was the star of the weekend for the Red Devils.
The Wichita native finished 17th of 226 runners in the Memphis Twilight Cross Country Classic in Memphis, Tenn., on Saturday.
Banuelos finished with a 20.15.6 time in the four-mile race.
“I was very happy with his performance,” Allen coach Vince DeGrado said. “He started out conservatively and just worked his way up as the race went.”
The field included several NCAA Division-I programs including SEC powers Alabama, Mississippi State and Mississippi, but Banuelos and the Red Devils were able to perform well on the big stage. The Allen men finished 10th in the 25-team field.
DeGrado says the depth of this year’s Red Devil squad continues to impress him and the team is just now beginning to figure out what strategies work best for them on race day.
“We had a faster team average than last year’s team, which I wasn’t expecting,” DeGrado said. “Last year’s team was front-loaded and we didn’t have match at the back. This year, we have Ricardo, but we are more back-loaded and that is great.
“We have a team that if we put it together we will surprise a lot of people at the end of the season… If we are going to do well at the national meet, we need a front-runner like Ricardo, but we have to pack up two through six and we will be dangerous. I think we have figured out how to be successful, now we have to execute it.”
Phillip Langemann crossed the line next for Allen in 49th place. Paul Becker was 69th, Alejandro Ruiz took 87th and Ludreche Bouange was the final team-scoring runner in 96th.
“I was pleased with the way Phillip, a sophomore, stayed composed,” DeGrado said. “Our freshmen had a blank-look on their face for the first mile or mile and a half. They were running scared, then all of a sudden the snapped out of it and ran a really good second half of the race which I was happy to see.”
Ben Lucier and Obed Quintana also finished in the top half of the field, in 100th and 108th respectively. Josue Alvarado, Andonet Thermidor, Jose Reza and Ryan Yarde wrapped up the Red Devils competing and all finished with top-150 times.
The Red Devil women were also led by their star runner with Kaitlyn Shoemaker — coming off of the Jayhawk Conference Runner of the Week award that she and Banuelos were honored with last week — finished 30th out of 229 runners from the same top schools the men faced.
“Kaitlyn and Ricardo are pretty much doing what we need them to do and I don’t see us slowing down, I really don’t,” DeGrado said. “We are only going to get better.”
Shoemaker ran 18:25.2 in the five-kilometer race to break her own school record.
The Red Devil women finished 13th in the team scores.
Freshman Abby Steinhauser was 67th with sophomores Vicky Ibarra and Kristina Silvers placing 101st and 109th respectively.
Hannah Johnson was 128th, Jessica Reese finished 159th, Kim Rodriguez took 161st and Maria Puenta was 165th.
Gemma Gonzalez, Ciara Bennett and Jaelyn Casanova rounded out the Red Devil runners by finishing in 179th, 191st and 196th respectively.
The cross country teams will be back in action on September 17th at the Missouri Southern Stampede in Joplin.
VOLLEYBALL
The Red Devil volleyball team stayed in the state, but made the trip north to Highland for a tournament.
The Red Devils ended the tournament on Saturday with a big win over Ellsworth Community College to salvage a win after a rough start to the tournament.
Allen beat Ellsworth 3-1. The Red Devils took the first set 25-12, but Ellsworth squeaked out a 25-23 victory in the second set to even the match.
Allen responded with 25-19 and 25-22 victories to take the match.
The Red Devils got off to a rocky start on Friday with a five-set loss against Labette Community College.
The Red Devils won the first set 25-21. Labette answered with a 25-22 victory in the second.
Allen came back with a 25-23 nail-biter in the third and Labette forced a winner-take-all fifth set with a 25-14 win in the fourth set.
In the fifth, Labette escaped 15-13.
Things got no better in the Red Devils’ first match on Saturday. They lost in straight sets to Iowa Central Community College, 25-15, 25-18 and 25-21.
SOCCER
The Red Devil soccer programs suffered similar fates on Saturday with each losing 6-1 to Northern Oklahoma College in Tonkawa.
Star forward Brynn Suddeth scored in the second half for the women’s team to avoid the shutout for the women.
Men’s star Jordan Velasco added to his team-leading goal total with a score in the 24th minute, but that was all the offense the Red Devils mustered in their lop-sided loss.
