Gearing Leads Wildcats at UAB Blazer Classic
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Senior Jenna Gearing placed second at the UAB Blazer Cross Country Classic on Friday morning in Birmingham, leading the Kentucky women to a sixth-place finish, while the UK men came in eighth.
Gearing covered the 6,000 meters at Veterans Park with a time of 20:16.46. Lurking behind the leaders with 400m remaining, she closed strongly to pass runners and finish just three seconds behind the winner, Katie Thronson of Tennessee (20:13.15). Gearing has led the Wildcats in all three races this season, winning the “Live in Lou” Classic on October 3 and finishing fifth at the Commodore Classic on Sept. 19.
“We were definitely going up against some of the best runners in our league and for Jenna to finish second should give her a lot of confidence going into the SEC championships,” said Hakon DeVries, UK assistant track and field coach who oversees the cross country runners. “She rallied really well in the last 400 meters.”
Two freshmen paced UK on the 8k men’s course, Jonah Mitchell coming in 25th overall in a time of 24:34.50 and Harper Moore 28th at 24:36.55.
Today wraps up the regular season for Kentucky. The Wildcats will conclude the fall season Oct. 30 at the Southeastern Conference Championships in Baton Rouge.
Women’s Team Report
The UK women finished in sixth place among a strong 10-team field. Defending SEC champion Arkansas won today’s title.
In a field of 108 runners, the UK scorers were Gearing, freshman Tori Herman in 20th, sophomore Kaylie Kenne in 24th, freshman Athena Young at No. 42 and junior Rachel Boice at No. 44.
“We competed well and the scores between second and sixth place were close,” DeVries noted. “Today was another step toward the championships.”
Men’s Team Report
The Kentucky men finished eighth. Mitchell was in the back of the pack early before surging to the top 25 with about 1,000m to go and holding steady from there. Moore advanced to the top 30 midway through the race en route to his No. 28 slot. Following Mitchell and Moore on the UK leaderboard were Patrick Schaefer, Aaron Withrow and McLean Griffin.
“Having freshmen as our top two runners today should be great motivation for them as they look toward the future,” DeVries said.
Arkansas won the meet and was paced by individual champion Amon Kemboi at a time of 23:25.46.
Agate
Women’s team results
| 1 | Arkansas | 42 |
| 2 | Ga. Tech | 104 |
| 3 | Florida St. | 115 |
| 4 | Ole Miss | 118 |
| 5 | Tennessee | 121 |
| 6 | Kentucky | 126 |
| 7 | MTSU | 167 |
| 8 | Vanderbilt | 221 |
| 9 | Florida | 224 |
| 10 | Miss. St. | 235 |
Women’s Individual Results (UK only, 6,000 meters)
2. Jenna Gearing, 20:16.46
20. Tori Herman, 20:55.19
24. Kaylie Kenne, 21:01.49
42. Athena Young, 21:27.19
44. Rachel Boice, 21:29.31
46. Kaitlyn Lacy, 21:32.06
72. Madisyn Peeples, 22:06.47
76. Anna Guerra, 22:11.02
78. Kelli Walsh, 22:16.76
Men’s Team Results
| 1 | Arkansas | 29 |
| 2 | Ole Miss | 50 |
| 3 | Florida State | 97 |
| 4 | Tennessee | 110 |
| 5 | Georgia Tech | 138 |
| 6 | Florida | 196 |
| 7 | Middle Tenn. | 198 |
| 8 | Kentucky | 202 |
| 9 | Vanderbilt | 203 |
Men’s Individual Results (UK only, 8,000 meters)
25. Jonah Mitchell, 24:34.50
28. Harper Moore, 24:36.55
52. Patrick Schaefer, 24:59.89
56. Aaron Withrow, 25:03.09
65. McLean Griffin, 25:14.78
75. Shane Williams, 25:35.97
78. Ryan Maynard, 25:46.98
84. Gabe Szalay, 26:04.19
Follow along with the Cats on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and on the web at UKathletics.com.
