Louisville, KY: The women and men’s cross-country teams, coached by Brandon Arnold, traveled to Louisville to compete in one of the country’s largest and most prestigious meets, the Greater Louisville Classic. This was the fourth consecutive year an ALC team had competed in this race. There were actually two separate college meets, broken down by division, level, and time.
To show how renowned this event is, in the ‘College Blue” division, which was comprised of runners from various levels of NCAA, NAIA, and NCCAA squads, a total of 493 women’s runners and 545 men’s runners comprised the field for the 5K (3.1 miles) women’s race and 8K (5 miles) men’s race. The numbers were very impressive as was the quality of the competition. Alice Lloyd women’s competitors faced runners from 65 different colleges and the men’s competitors faced 68 different squads.
The course was largely flat terrain with only a small slope in places and was made for good runners. Louisville frequently hosts the NCAA DI National Cross-Country Championship, so obviously, the Eagle runners were motivated to see how they stacked up against some of the finest runners from across the country, from all different levels, on a great course.
On the day, the ladies were led once more by Carlee Salyers, who finished the meet in 20:45, which earned her 214th place. Soon after, Suzann Moore (21:33) and Sara Cecil (21:41) crossed the finish line, as they completed the course in 302nd and 313th positions. Completing the team’s top five were Brooke Vanover (22:12), and Abigail Webb (22:51)
In addition, Cara Acey (23:16), Hannah Bryant (24:34), Kaitlynn Ratliff (24:37), and Olivia Innskeep (24:57) ran a spirited race as well. The club would finish 48th.
In the men’s event, Anthony Hildago ran very well and set a new personal record, as he crossed the line in 27:24. This impressive run earned him 236th place overall. Ryan Morris completed the race in 27:39 and earned himself 267th place.
Owen Lindsey (29:21), and Noah Huffman (30:16) both set individual records, while Micah Blankenship (30:45) was the fifth individual Eagle to finish.
In addition, Koby Proffitt (31:56), Jacob Bush (33:51), Jacob Vanhook (34:33), and Preston Mullins (39:23) left everything on the course also. The club would finish 50th.
The squad will next compete in the difficult Royals Challenge in Charlotte, North Carolina on Friday, October 8th.