EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville men’s and women’s cross country teams return to the course tomorrow for the Gans Creek Classic in Columbia, Mo. The event, hosted by Missouri, features an 87-team field and will be broadcast live on SECN+, while live results can be fund here. The men’s field includes 14 Top 25 squads, while the women’s field features nine teams ranked inside the Top 25.
Evansville junior Samuel Lea (Worcester, United Kingdom/Worcester Sixth Form College) won the men’s 8K in dramatic fashion at the John McNichols Invitational last Saturday, helping his team to a fourth place finish. On the women’s side, the Aces finished fifth, led by sophomore Chase Hayes (Noblesville, Ind./Western), who finished 15th.
Lea won the men’s race with a time of 24:47.35, edging out Miami (Ohio)’s Chis Perkins by one second to take the title. The time marks a personal best for Lea and ties Nick Waniger (2006) for the ninth-best 8K time in program history. Rafael Rodriguez (Segovia, Spain/Colegio Claret) placed 24th with a time of 26:00.24, while Woody Burrell (Cedarburg, Wis. Cedarburg) finished closely behind in 28th place at 26:06.43. Tommaso Losma (Lombardia, Italy/Liceo Scientifico David Maria Turoldo, Zogno (Bg)) and Nathan Whitehead Vincennes, Ind./Vincennes) also finished inside the top 50 to help UE finish fourth in the 13-team field.
On the women’s side, Hayes paced the Aces for the third time this season, tying Nicole Prauchner (2023) for the 14th-best 6K time in program history and setting a new personal best at 22:29.93. Avery Stephens (Newburgh, Ind/Castle) was the next UE finisher, posting a time of 23:14.48 to place 27th. Freshman Kyleigh Wolf (Columbus, Ind./Columbus North) finished 33rd with a time of 23:33.07, while Evansville finished fifth in the 11-team field. y), Lauren Bradley (Russiaville, Ind./Western) and Veronica Wilgocki (Chesteron, Ind./Chesterton) secured top ten finishes as well with times of 19:55.1, 20:05.6, and 20:25.7 respectively.
On the men’s side, freshman James Cruse (Melbourne, Australia) won the collegiate race and finished second overall as the Aces’ top finisher with a time of 18:48.3. Cruse was named MVC Men’s Runner of the Week for his performance. Nathan Whitehead (Vincennes, Ind./South Knox) also placed in the top five, finishing fourth at 19:14.7. Tanner Spence (Carmi, Ill./Carmi) and Nathan Campbell (Bloomington, Ind./Bloomington North) also placed inside the top ten with times of 19:26.5 and 19:37.7, respectively. Evansville took the team title with a score of 26, a margin of victory of 47 ahead of the second place squad.
Friday’s meet will be hosted at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course (3350 E Gans Road Columbia, MO 65201).
