Central Oklahoma Cross Country opens season with 11th-place finish at Rogers State

Zach Ogrodny September 8, 2026 5:33 pm

The University of Central Oklahoma opened its 2026 cross country season Thursday night with an 11th-place finish at the Rogers State Distance After Dark 5K at Mohawk Park.

Leading the Bronchos in the first race of the season was sophomore Lily Melton, with a 17th-place finish in 18:36. Her time marked the ninth-fastest 5K in UCO history.

*UCO’s Lily Melton running in Rogers State’s Distance After Dark 5K. (Photo provided by bronchosports.com)*

The race featured a competitive front-end, with the top five runners separated by less than 20 seconds.

Host Rogers State’s Amy Morefield won the race with a time of 17:44.4, beating Tulsa University’s MaKaylin Viet by just under two seconds.

UCO finished 11th as a team among 17 programs competing. Several Bronchos were grouped around the 20-minute mark behind Melton. Lily Horvath finished in 19:20, good for second among Central runners.

Julia Trost finished in 20:22, followed by Regan Jones at 20:29, Ariane Williams at 20:30, Hadlee Mann at 20:35 and Autumn Hickok at 20:48.

McKenna Huston finished in 22:46, while Abagail Bloyed crossed the finish line in 22:47.

The Bronchos entered the season with a largely new group of runners. Bloyed, Mann, Shea and Trost are freshmen, while Horvath, Jones and Hickok are transfers.

Melton, Williams and Huston are returners, although Williams was the only one of the three to compete in cross country for UCO previously.

Thursday’s race gave UCO an early look at how its new group of runners could come together throughout the season. With seven of UCO’s 10 competitors either freshmen or transfers, the Bronchos will keep evaluating their best groups as the season progresses.

Melton’s solid performance gives Central an early silver lining to build on, and the tight grouping of finishes behind her provides the Bronchos with a foundation heading into their next meet. UCO will have two weeks to prepare before returning to competition in Joplin, Missouri.

The Bronchos will run next Sept. 19 at Missouri Southern’s annual Southern Stampede.

Central Oklahoma has four regular-season races and two postseason races scheduled for 2026. Following the Southern Stampede, the Bronchos will compete at Arkansas and Oklahoma State in October before closing the season at the MIAA and NCAA Regional championships in November.