App State cross country traveled to Louisville, Kentucky for the Live in Lou Cross Classic Saturday. The men matched their sixth place finish at the meet last year, and after not competing last year, the women placed 32nd. 

Senior Ryan Brown led the way in 30th place and a personal best 8K time of 24:07.4. Freshman Ethan Lipham continued his season-long tear with 35th place and a personal record time of 24:10.0. Junior Oliver Wilson-Cook continued the personal record trend with a 58th place finish and 24:23.1. The flatness of the Louisville course likely led to the quicker finish times. 

“Coming up at Louisville, I have heard it is pretty hyped up as a really fast course, so I am excited to get up there and let it rip a little bit,” Lipham said. 

Sophomore Linnea Maynard zoomed for a 18:21.0 5K time and 138th place finish. Junior Jasmine Donohue was on her heels in 139th place, finishing with a 18:21.2. Sophomore Karsyn Kane logged a 18:47.2 to earn 203rd place. 

The underclassmen helped the men’s runners notch their sixth place finish. Sophomore Dwayne Lillie ran for a 24:27.6 and 65th place finish, while sophomore Chase Burrell achieved 72nd place after running a 24:33.4. Sophomore Garrett Bivens rounded out the day with a time of 24:43.3. 

“Very excited with the results for the men. They followed their race plan,” head coach Michael Curcio said. “Showed a lot of patience in the first mile to 2K. They wrecked their way up from 20th as a team at 2.1k to 6th at the finish. It being a fast course, all but a few of the guys got PRs. We’ll see a lot of changes on the all time list.”

Senior Madison Christy and sophomore Lana Farris powered into 227th and 228th place. They ran 18:56.5 and 18:56.6 respectively. The running veteran, senior Izzy Evely finished in 270th place after turning in a 19:16.0.

“Our women’s team is learning more about running in a big crowd and needing to get in position sooner,” Curcio said. “It’s the biggest race we will run all year.”

The Mountaineer runners will look to keep improving their times Oct. 15 when they head to Spartanburg, South Carolina for the USC-Upstate Invite.

“It is the best team performance we’ve seen this year or ever on the course,” Curcio said. “They are a motivated group and this was an eye opener of their potential.”