Former Heritage runners lead Mocs in Louisville
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s and women’s cross country teams saw improvement in individual times across the board Saturday morning in the premier race at the Greater Louisville Classic at the E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park.
Former Heritage High runner Ryan Gebelein recorded a PR time of 25:37.8, besting his previous top time by nearly eight seconds. He placed 106th overall out of 252 runners in the race and led the Mocs to 24th place. Nathan Watson moved up in the group and was UTC’S second finisher with at time of 25:41.8, three seconds off his PR and nearly three minutes faster than his finish in Nashville on a hot, muggy day earlier this month.
Mark Britt also hit a PR in the meet, finishing third for UTC and 122nd overall with a time of 25:43.6. Gavin Hasty covered the 8-kilometer course in a time of 25:46.1. Both were nearly a minute and a half improvement over week one.
Jonathan Boyd (26:10.7) and Ryan Phillips (27:40.0) each posted seasonhigh times for the Mocs and transfer Micah Sneller made his debut for Chattanooga with a time of 27:25.1.
“Ryan, with a PR, was 10 seconds faster than his time last year and Nathan was 33 seconds faster,” Meyer said. “Mark also ran a PR and was 37 seconds faster. This year our 1-5 split was on 33 seconds and 1-5 average time was 25:47. Last year at this meet, our 1-5 average was 26:09 and the 1-5 split was over a minute. Solid improvement shown by the guys.”
The men finished 24th in the Gold Division race ahead of Middle Tennessee and Wofford. Unc-greensboro edged the Mocs for 23rd.
North Central (Ill.) had just one runner in the top five and two in the top 20, but came away with the victory, beating out Kentucky with 102 points. The Wildcats placed second with 110 points and Belmont was third at 117.
Southern Conference foe East Tennessee State placed fifth with 175 points and led by Ben Varghese in third overall with a time of 23:48.4.
“The girl’s results were just as impressive,” Meyer said. “Emily (Poole) was seven seconds faster this year and Makenzie Jones, running in her first race with us, was 18:30. Hannah Caldwell was 18 seconds faster and Sophia Neglia was 27 seconds faster.
“The ladies 1-5 average was 18:54 last year. This year with was 19 seconds better at 18:34. The 1-5 split was also improved by a few seconds and they beat all the Socon teams in the race.”
The Mocs finished 18th overall, ahead of Wofford (22), UNCG (23) and East Tennessee State (25). Michigan took first in the women’s 5-kilometer race with 46 points and placing all five scoring runners in the Top 16. Eastern Kentucky was second with 120 points and SMU third with 160 points.
Poole, the former Heritage General, led the women in a time of 17:52.5, more than one minute faster than her time at Vanderbilt two weeks ago. Newcomer Makenzie Jones was the second UTC runner to finish with a time of 18:30.3.
Sophomore Sophia Neglia set a new personal record with a finish time of 18:54.3, more than 25 seconds better than her previous best time while improving her time from the Mocs’ season opener in Nashville. Also posting a PR was Rebekah Wich with a time of 19:10.6 and Abby Bateman at 20:18.8.
Hannah Caldwell, the Mocs number two finisher at Vanderbilt was third this week with a time of 18:48.3, 34 seconds better than her mark two weeks ago.
“(Assistant coach) Amanda (Cotter) and I are very pleased with the progress made in the last two weeks,” Meyer said. “We are certainly a bit ahead of last year and with the kids exhibiting such great attitudes and work ethic, we will continue to get better. We aren’t where we need to be, but we are certainly headed in the right direction.
“It was a good day for our running Mocs.”