More Than 2,400 Athletes Compete in 21st Annual Live in Lou Cross Country Classic
Furman Dominates the Women’s Feature Race; WVU’s Ceili McCabe Breaks Her Own Course Record
NCAA Division II Powerhouse Grand Valley State Wins Men’s Feature Race
Louisville, Ky. – Oct. 1, 2022 – West Virginia phenom Ceili McCabe broke her own course record winning the women’s featured Gold race at the Live in Lou Cross Country Classic, the nation’s largest college cross country meet held today at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park.
More than 2,400 runners representing 140 colleges and universities competed in six races Saturday morning and early afternoon under ideal weather and course conditions in front of more than 5,000 spectators. The women contested at a distance of five kilometers (5K) and the men’s contested at a distance of eight kilometers (8K).
McCabe ran five kilometers in 16:23.9, outdistancing runner up Bethany Graham (16:35.5) of Furman and third-place finisher Carmen Riano of Miami of Ohio (16:42.6). The Furman’s women’s team overpowered the field to win the Gold race with 44 points. WVU was second with 92 points and NCAA Division II power Grand Valley State was third with 132.
Grand Valley State’s Tanner Chada won the men’s Gold race, leading the Lakers to 104 points and a closely contested team title over second place Lee University from Tennessee (113) and third place Miami (150). Chada’s time was 23:18.1, three plus seconds better than Auburn’s Ryan Kinnan and Milo Greder from Cincinnati.
Grand Valley State second wave won the men’s Blue race, edging UT-Martin 190 to 196, with North Alabama finishing third at 207. Jason Bowers of Cumberland (TN) won the Blue race with a time of 23:51.7. Will Cahill of UT Martin was second at 24:17.5 and Catawba’s Erick Ramirez-Ramos was third at 24:17.9.
Freshman Addie Wiley of Huntington, one of the top prep and junior runners in the nation last season, ran clear of the pack in the women’s Blue race with a time of 17:26.1. Taylor University dominated the women’s Blue race team standings with a score of 67, paced by second place finisher Noel Vanderwall (17:34.6). Xavier (OH) finished second with 111 points and Gran Valley State third with 121.
Lincoln Memorial University (TN), led by third-place finisher Brooke Foster, won the women’s Silver race with a score of 123, edging out second place Indiana Tech (141) and Converse University out of South Carolina (153). Allison Sherman of Detroit Mercy won the Silver race with a time of 18:09.5. Melanie Helder from Evansville was second at 18:14.0 and Foster third at 18:44.5.
In the men’s Silver race, Conner Uppleger finished first to lead Lawrence Tech (MI) to the team title with a score of 116. Marian (IN) finished second with 178 points and Robert Morris was third with 195. Uppleger finished the eight kilometers in 24:59.2 with Noah Scott of Run Club at IU finishing second at 25:08.5 and Luke Wilson of Berea third at 25:06.2.
Eastern High School conducted kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school races Friday and Saturday afternoons. The youth and prep races attracted nearly 3,200 competitors from six states. The two events combined for the largest cross country meet in the country.