Redhawks Women Place Sixth; Men Finish 31st at Louisville Sports Commission Cross Country Classic Saturday

Saturday, September 29

Louisville, Ky.

TBA

Southeast Missouri State University

Louisville

Photo by: Athlete's Eye Photography

9/29/2018 3:29:00 PM | Cross Country

Men's Results (PDF)Women's Results (PDF)Full Results

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Southeast Missouri women's cross country finished sixth in the 26-team 5K Gold Louisville Sports Commission Cross Country Classic race Saturday at the E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park. The men were 25th out of 29 teams in the 8K Gold race.

Both Redhawk teams competed in the gold divisions as the Louisville Sports Commission Cross Country Classic was split into three races for each gender (gold, blue and silver).

Overall, the women were sixth out of 100 women's teams with a team average of 18:07.44 and beat Southeastern Conference (SEC) schools like Mississippi State and Auburn along with meet host, Louisville.

Southeast men were 31st out of 109 men's teams, recording their fastest team average in three years of 25:55.04.

"It was a pretty good day all around on both sides," head coach Ryan Lane said of the meet. "We are pretty excited to finish sixth on the women's side because this is their highest finish at the meet in program history."

The Redhawks women totaled 267 points in the 5K Gold Race for sixth as Michigan won the race with 26 points. Sydney O'Brien posted the fastest Redhawk time with a personal best of 17:37.8 for 27th.

Kaitlyn Shea was the second SEMO finisher with 17:43.5 for 37th. Carli Knott was 50th in the race, clocking in at 18:02.0.

Rachel Hutchcraft (PR, 18:14.5, 58th) and Anna Thomas (18:59.4, 117th) rounded out the women's top five.

Natalie Kopplin (19:03.8, 125th), Adrienne Brauer (PR, 19:07.7, 133rd), Jane Boessen (PR, 19:23.5, 161st), Danielle Mohrmann (19:35.0, 176th) and Maddie Keller (PR, 19:47.3, 192nd) all finished in the top 200.

In the men's 8K Gold Race, SEMO recorded 650 points as North Central (IL) topped the team leaderboard with 102.

Dan Plunkett led the men with a personal-best time of 25:19.8 for 77th.

James Kosbar (25:46.3, 132nd) and Chris Durr (26:05.8, 167th) also registered career-best marks at the second and third spots for SEMO.

Curtis Reed (26:07.7, 169th) and Griffin Bailey (26:15.6, 177th) were the fourth and fifth Redhawk finishers.

"Curtis Reed and Griffin Bailey had been banged up and injured so this was their first real race of the season," Lane said. "They should be our no. 2 and no. 3 men and they finished fourth and fifth so we have a lot of room for improvement as they continue to get stronger and healthier."

Nicholas Yaeger (26:46.3, 210th), Charlie Samarzich (27:09.4 223rd) and Trevor Falco (27:15.6, 226th) each had career best outings at Louisville.

The Redhawks next compete at the Ideal Rentals Bradley Pink Classic (men) on Friday, Oct. 12 in Peoria, Illinois, and the 2018 Wisconsin Pre-National Meet (women) on Saturday, Oct. 13 in Madison, Wisconsin.

Southeast will also host the 2018 Ohio Valley Conference Cross Country Championship meet on Saturday, Oct. 27 at the Osage Centre, 1625 North Kingshighway.