SMC men win Louisville Classic cross country meet
SMC men win Louisville Classic cross country meet
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The 7th-ranked SMC Pioneer men won the 11th annual Greater Louisville Classic on Saturday, Sept. 29. The event at E.P. Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky., included more than 90 teams from 29 states in six separate college races.
Competing in the men's "Silver Race," the men won easily scoring 44 points to runner-up Hope College's (Michigan)209 points. There were 38 full teams in the Silver Race.
Sophomore Austin Steagall (Gaffney,S.C.) finished second overall in 26:00.7 and he was closely followed by sophomore Max Peter Bejmer (Vallingby, Sweden), in fourth place, Bejmer's time was 26:01.8. Next across the line were freshman Zaid Smart (Princeton, N.J.) in 13th place and a time of 26:36.4; freshman Alex Flores (Clover, S.C.), in 15th place, with a time of 26:39.6; and sophomore Cody Ellison (Pauline, S.C.), in 16th place, and a time of 26:43.1. There were 309 finishers in the race.
The men finished ahead of four other NJCAA schools: Danville Area Community College, Kaskaskia College, Rend Lake College and Vincennes University.
The men won a pink, Louisville Slugger baseball especially inscribed at the baseball bat factory in downtown Louisville.
The Pioneer women also had a successful race placing 19th out of 42 full teams. Freshman Catie Byrd (Zirconia, N.C.), continues to lead the team as she finished 5th overall in 19:19.9, in the field of 339 finishers.
Sophomore Aisha Maddox (Columbia, S.C.), was 57th overall in 20:32.6; sophomore Elizabeth Catoe (Lancaster, S.C.), was third for the team, 102nd overall in 21:08.7; freshman Rachael Summers (Rock Hill, S.C.), was 172nd in 22:00.8; and sophomore Jessica Monte (Greer, S.C.), was the final scorer in 204th place, and with a time of 22:22.8.
Among NJCAA team, the 16th-ranked Pioneer women fell to Danville, but finished ahead of Kaskaskia, Rend Lake and Vincennes. The women also topped Spartanburg rival, Converse College.
The race featured an extremely competitive field for both the men and women. On the men's side, the field included four NCAA Division 1-ranked teams and three of the top 10. For women, seven nationally-ranked NCAA D-1 teams competed including No. 1 Washington, No. 8 Vanderbilt and No. 10 Arkansas.
The park will host the NCAA Division 1 Cross Country Championships on Nov. 17.
The men's and women's teams are in action next at the Queens University, Royals Cross Country Invitational on Oct. 13, at Charlotte, N.C.'s McAlpine Greenway Park.
Results (men): http://alltraxtiming.homestead.com/glc_mensilverrez2.pdf
Results (women): http://alltraxtiming.homestead.com/glc_womensilverrez.pdf
