LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Vanderbilt turned in a pair of top-25 team finishes Saturday at the Live In Lou Cross Country Classic held at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer Park.
Nick Laning’s 24:04.6 was good for 15th among individuals in the men’s gold 8k race, headlining an 11th-place showing for the Commodores at one of the nation’s most highly-attended cross country events. Annie Gallagher (18:08.4) paced Vanderbilt with a 63rd-place finish in the women’s gold 5k, as Vanderbilt posted a collective 22nd-place standing.
“This was the first race for almost all of the women, so it was good to see them in a competitive environment,” said head coach Steve Keith. “Getting used to race intensity will help this group progress. The men had a super race with great individual efforts and a very solid team performance. They have exhibited good team focus and consistency which really showed today. All of the men’s times are personal-best efforts for 8k cross country, and a 1-5 gap of 1:13 is pretty good considering how fast our No. 1 was today.”
Matthew Estopinal (24:31.0, 41st) cracked the top-50 and was followed by Harrison Thomas (24:43.4), who checked in at 61st. The Dores also received contributions from Jonah Bird (25:16.5, 135th), Caleb Van Geffen (25:18.2, 140th), Lucas Mowery (25:48.3, 208th), Andrew Irvine (26:29.6, 282nd) and Edward Harptead (26:43.3, 303rd).
Gallagher’s sub-19:00 performance was duplicated by Anna Grace Morgan (18:34.0, 118th), Alena Sapienza-Wright (18:34.7, 120th), Kendall Derry (18:39.9, 130th) and Mailin Struck (18:55.6, 178th). Lauren Moffett crossed in 19:02.8.
The Commodores return to action Oct. 19 at the NCAA Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Indiana.
