RESULTS
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Lee University men's cross country placed ninth out of 39 teams in a loaded Gold Race of the Live in Lou Cross Country Classic Saturday morning at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park. The 8K race featured eight teams in the Top 25 of the USTFCCCA NCAA Division II ratings, including two of the top four.
No. 4 Grand Valley State collected 104 points to edge No. 2 Adams State (105) for the team win. Purdue was third (160) and No. 7 West Texas A&M placed fourth (164). No. 17 Azusa Pacific's 246 points put them in eighth, while the ninth-ranked Flames amassed 289 points for ninth place.
The 22
nd-ranked team from Pittsburg State finished 13
th, while No. 24 Mississippi College placed 18
th and No. 18 Cedarville University was 27
th.
Matthew Fowler was the first Lee runner across the finish line. His time of 24:03.1 was good for 13
th overall out of 378 runners. William Amponsah of West Texas A&M was the individual winner with a time of 23:08.6
Aaron Himes stopped the clock at 24:18.1 for 30
th. Owen Pearce (24:49.0) and Jacob Hatcher (24:49.9) were 77
th and 79
th, respectively. Roberto Fajardo was Lee's final scorer at 96
th (24:58.2).
Luke Gaddis and Caleb Guthery were the Lee spacers. Gaddis posted a time of 25:00.5 to finish 102
nd. Guthery finished at 25:13.9 for 127
th.
Stephen Clark placed 135
th (25:15.5), Jon Fielding Stogner was 159
th (25:23.4), and Evan Moore finished 187
th (25:35.3). Ryan Lovelace completed the circuit at 25:44.7 for 205
th.
The Flames have completed the regular season and will travel to Huntsville, Alabama for the Gulf South Conference Championships on October 21. The championship will be held at the John Hunt Park Cross Country Course.
Coach Caleb Morgan's Thoughts:
"Our men had a great day; this is the best performance we have had as a team this season."
"We were without our No. 3 runner Ezekiel Harless, but this didn't hurt us. We had multiple guys step up."
"Matthew Fowler ran an amazing race and had our highest finish ever as an individual in the Louisville Classic gold race beating out all of Grand Valley State's runners."
"Luke Gaddis is coming on strong for us and should make a major impact over the next several weeks. He went from 11
th on the team to sixth the last two weeks."
"We have a great training block the next three weeks to get faster and stronger leading into the postseason."
