Three runners connected to the cooperative had outstanding performances in recent races.
Tom May, senior director of culture and employee engagement, set the Missouri half-marathon record for men 55 to 59 years of age with a time of 1:20:15 at the Cohick Half Marathon in Springfield, Mo., on Sunday, Nov. 7. The record he broke was set in 1992. May finished in fifth place overall in the Cohick Half Marathon and first in the male master (40 years of age and up) division.
May is an avid runner and has run regularly since high school. He competed at Smith-Cotton High School in Sedalia and Northeast Missouri State University in Kirksville (now known as Truman State University). May has enjoyed completing road races for more than 20 years and holds multiple state records.
Andrew Hauser, son of marketing clerk Katie Hauser, won the individual Missouri High School Cross Country Class 5 State Championship Race, with a time of 14:52.7. His team finished second overall in the competition. Hauser, a sophomore at Rock Bridge High School in Columbia, became the fastest sophomore runner in the nation with his state-title winning time.
In addition to outpacing the competition at Saturday’s race, Hauser beat his older brother Matthew’s time of 15:34.5 seconds, which was good enough to win last year’s Class 5 state championship.
Aaron Westhoff, son of Union plant manager Jared Lause, competed in the NCAA Division II Cross Country Regional Finals. Westhoff set a new personal record time of 31:03:89 in the 10K and helped his school, the University of Central Missouri, finish in fifth place and capture an at large bid to the NCAA Division II National Finals at St. Leo University in St. Leo, Florida on Nov. 20.
Congratulations to Tom, Andrew and Aaron on their outstanding accomplishments!