Oct 01, 2014

GREATER LOUISVILLE CLASSIC

October 04, 2014 @ Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, KY

Hosted by Eastern Timing/Results: AllTrax Timing

Louisville, KY- The Louisville Sports Commission (LSC) will host 125 colleges and universities from 24 states and Canada in the 13th largest college meet contested in the United States in 2014. The Classic, run Saturday October 4, will bring together some of the top college cross country programs in the nation, as over 2,600 athletes are expected to compete at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park. The event will not only feature significant quantity, but the overall quality of the competing teams will once again be very strong this year. The field will be comprised of 24 men's teams and 27 women's teams that are currently ranked in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Div- I Regional & National, NCAA Div. II National and NCAA Div. III National Cross Country Polls this season.

In fact, this year’s GLC features programs that have won NINE NCAA D-I NATIONAL TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS. The most recent being the University of Wisconsin men’s program back in 2011. The men's race showcases perennial national power University of Wisconsin, currently ranked #11 in the USTFCCCA NCAA D-I National Coaches Poll, and they will go off as the favorite to take home the team title. The following group of schools could challenge for Top-5 team honors- University of Louisville, currently ranked #7 in the USTFCCCA D-I Southeast Region coaches poll, Atlantic Coast Conference power Virginia Tech University, currently ranked #6 in the NCAA D-I Southeast Region, Big 10 power University of Illinois, ranked #6 in the NCAA D-I Midwest Region coaches poll, University of Mississippi, ranked #4 in the NCAA D-I South Region coaches poll, Middle Tennessee State University ranked #5 in the NCAA D-I South Region coaches poll and NCAA D-II power University of Southern Indiana, currently ranked #6 in the NCAA D-II national poll.

Individually, the men’s race shapes up as a clash of some of best college runners in the midwest and southeast. The lead pack should include Wisconsin’s fine crop of newcomers and senior Michael Van Voorhis (5,000m PR of 13:57.07), Middle Tennessee newcomer Geoffrey Cheruiyot (winner of 2014 Commodore Classic), University of Louisville’s duo of Edwin Kibichiy (3,000m Steeple PR 8:44.97) and Annual Greater Louisville Classic (GLC), which should be the second Ernest Kibet (10,000m PR of 28:55.55), both coming off very strong performances two weeks ago at Vanderbilt and Southern Indiana’s duet of Johnnie Guy (2013 D-II XC national top 10 performer) and Tyler Pence (10,000m PR of 29:47).

The women’s race showcases three nationally ranked teams- University of Wisconsin, currently ranked #16 in the USTFCCCA NCAA D-I National Coaches Poll, West Virginia University, ranked #21 in the D-I national poll and Virginia Tech University, ranked #22 in the D-I national poll. Several other squads should be vying for top five team finishes including Eastern Kentucky University, ranked #5 in the NCAA D-I Southeast Region, SEC member University of Missouri ranked #4 in the Midwest Region and Lipscomb University, ranked #5 in the South Region.

The women's individual race should be an evenly matched affair between some of the top collegiate runners in the United States. Expected to contend for top 5 placing Saturday should be our defending 2013 GLC champion Ann Eason (5,000m PR 16:06) , Eastern Kentucky University’s top runner, University of Tennessee’s Chelsea Blaase (10,000m PR 33:13.94), Teghan Henderson (5,000m PR 16:13.03), of Tennessee-Chattanooga, Sarah Rapp (5,000m PR 16:07.28) of Virginia Tech and Wisconsin’s tandem of Sarah Disanza (5,000m PR 16:24.00), Emma- Lisa Murphy (5,000m PR 16:27.25) and Gabi Anzaone (5,000m PR 16:31.50).

Again this year, there will be very competitive high school and middle school races contested after the college event is completed. It is expected that over 1,800 young athletes from Kentucky, Indiana, West Virginia, Missouri, Tennessee, and Ohio high schools will be competing Saturday afternoon with the first race at 12:00 pm.

For any further information please contact Troy Killian (502) 587-7767 or meet director David Lawhorn at (502) 330-1933

COLLEGE SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Date:

Saturday, October 5, 2014

Race Times:

Men’s Gold race 9:30 am

Women’s Gold race 10:15 am

Men’s Blue race 10:45 am

Women’s Blue race 11:30 am

Boys High School Invite race 12:00 pm

Girls High School Invite race 12:30 pm

Men’s Silver race 1:00 pm