Kentucky Cross Country Continues Season at Gans Creek Classic
COLUMBIA, Mo. – The University of Kentucky Cross Country squads will face their toughest test to date as the Wildcats travel to Columbia, Mo. and race at the 2024 Gans Creek Classic. Hosted by the University of Missouri at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course, the meet is scheduled to take place on Friday, September 27, with a Men’s 8k race at 9 a.m. ET and a Women’s 6k race at 9:45 a.m. ET.
A challenging field of 40 women’s teams and 36 men’s squads is set to race in CoMo, site of the 2025 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. In the Men’s 8k, two teams ranked in the USTFCCCA Coaches’ Poll—No. 10 Stanford and No. 28 Ole Miss—are entered in the field. For the Women’s 6k, five teams in the top 30 will toe the line on Friday morning—No. 6 Florida, No. 8 Stanford, No. 9 Tennessee, No. 13 Lipscomb, and No. 26 Ole Miss. Other SEC schools competing include Auburn and Missouri, in addition to Power Four schools like Baylor, Georgia Tech, Iowa, Kansas, Kansas State, and UCLA.
The Kentucky Men’s Cross Country team for the weekend is set to be made up of 10 athletes—Alex Alston, Ed Bird, Sami Hattab, Max Liao, Collins Kiprop, Caden Miracle, Jack Pendergast, William Russell, Jackson Watts, and Caden Weber.
The team is coming off a fourth-place finish at the Southern Showcase two weeks ago, headlined by Kiprop’s fifth-place finish in his collegiate debut. His run of 23:45.9 over eight kilometers was the fastest 8k collegiate debut for a Wildcat runner since at least 2012, the highest 8k finish for Wildcat runner since 2021, the fastest time in the 8k by a Kentucky freshman since 2018, and the fastest 8k season opener by any Wildcat runner since 2017.
Bird, a member of the 2023 SEC All-Freshman Team, is set to make his season debut for the Cats on Friday. Most recently, the sophomore from Dorchester, England earned a bronze medal at the World U20 Championships in the 3000m.
For the Kentucky Women’s squad, 10 athletes—Jayla Atkinson, Morgan Dick, Ava Hendren, Ally Kruger, Phoebe McCowan, Chesney McPherson, Lyric Olson, Mollie Roden, Jenna Schwinghammer, and Julz Williams, will toe the line in the 6k race. The team is fresh off a sixth-place finish at the Southern Showcase in early September, highlighted by Ally Kruger’s second consecutive top 20 finish at the event and five personal best times.
Four more Wildcats—Theo Bachmann, Miles Brush, Clara Heppner, and Baylor Wolfe—will race as individuals in the meet’s Open division. The Men’s 8k Open will start at 10:30 a.m. ET and the Women’s 6k Open will begin at 11:15 a.m. ET.
The Gans Creek Classic marks the penultimate regular season meet for Kentucky Cross Country, who will race at the Bradley Pink Classic in Peoria, Ill. on October 18 for their final tune-up before the postseason.
