By David Rogers. LOUISVILLE, Ky. — More than 300 collegiate men’s cross country athletes took to the trails of E.P. Sawyer State Park in Louisville on Oct. 1, for the Live In Lou Cross Country Classic. Appalachian State’s men finished sixth in the field of 32 college teams, with three Mountaineers posting personal best times in the 8K race to finish among the top finishers.
Senior Ryan Brown was the first Mountaineer to cross the finish line in the men’s 8K gold race, clocking a personal best time of 24:07.4, to place 30th individually. Freshman Ethan Lipham bested his previous personal best by a full minute with a time of 24:10.0 to finish 35th and junior Oliver Wilson-Cook stopped the clock at 24:23.1, improving his personal best by 30 seconds, and landing 58th overall.
A senior at Grand Valley State, Tanner Chada’s first place finish (23:18.1) help propel the Allendale, Mich.-based Lakers to the team championship, while Lee University of Cleveland, Tenn. used its top five athletes placing in the top 38 to finish second in the team competition. Also placing ahead of the Mountaineers was Miami (OH), Cincinnati, and Eastern Michigan.
Women’s race dominated by Furman, West Virginia
The women’s 5K Gold race was even more competitive, with 378 runners representing 41 teams. Appalachian State finished 32nd in the team competition, just ahead of host Louisville in 33rd, while Furman, West Virginia and Grand Valley State went 1-2-3 among the competing teams.
The Mountaineers were led by sophomore Linnea Maynard, who stopped the clock at 18:21.0 to place 138th. Following close behind Maynard was junior Jasmine Donohue, who clocked a 5K time of 18:21.2, finishing 139th overall. Sophomore Karsyn Kane posted a time of 18:47.2 taking 203rd.
A West Virginia junior, Ceili McCabe, took top individual honors by crossing the line in 16:23.9.
Appalachian State’s next outing will be Oct. 15, in Spartanburg, S.C., for the Upstate Invite, hosted by USC-Upstate.
