STANFORD, Calif. — Following a month-long hiatus, the Stanford men’s and women’s cross-country teams hit the road to compete at the Gans Creek Classic for the second-consecutive year on Friday morning looking to repeat as meet champions.
The Stanford women begin the morning with the six-kilometer (3.73-mile) race beginning at 7:00 a.m. PT followed by the men’s 8K (4.97-mile) at 7:45 a.m. PT at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course which serves as the host site of this season’s NCAA DI Championship.
Live results for Friday’s meet can be found here.
The meet serves as Stanford’s second competition of the season following the season-debut at Hellman Hollow in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The Stanford women placed runner’s-up in its 2025 debut with Julia Flynn earning Stanford’s lone podium finish as the Cardinal had three top-10 harriers on the women’s side. The Stanford men claimed fifth-place during the meet as a tempo workout saw all of its scoring harriers finish within half of a second of each other with freshman Vincent Recupero leading the charge.
Stanford’s entries for the men’s 8K includes Leo Young, Quinn White, Nolan Topper, Milo Skapinsky, Paul Bergeron, Byron Grevious, Vincent Recupero and Josh Bell.
This week’s lineup consists of a healthy balance of veteran experience and young talent with four underclassmen and upperclassmen entered including Stanford’s leader at the USF Invite in Vincent Recupero and last season’s team-leader at the event in Leo Young who is looking to replicate or improve upon a runner-up finish in 2024.
The Cardinal enters an identical eight harriers from the season opener in San Francisco for the women’s 6K including Julia Flynn, Amelia Everett, Hillary Studdert, Clemmie Lilley, Maya De Brouwer, Hanne Thomsen, Riley Stewart, Ava Parekh.
Julia Flynn and Riley Stewart return to the Gans Creek Classic following top-10 finishes at last season’s meet. Alongside Flynn and Stewart, Hillary Studdert and Ava Parekh return for another run of the course while the Cardinal also slot in three freshman who get their first experience at the site of this season’s NCAA Championships
LAST TIME AT GANS CREEK
Last season saw the Cardinal sweep both the men’s and women’s races in Stanford’s debut at the 6th annual Gans Creek Classic. The Cardinal men, led by Leo Young and Cole Sprout, placed seven harriers in the top-25 including brothers Leo and Lex Young, who took second and third, respectively. Stanford claimed first place in the team overall category with 31 points with its next closest competitor in Tennessee tabbing 163 points.
On the women’s side, Zofia Dudek was the lead Cardinal across the finish line, earning a runner-up finish individually while Sophia Kennedy took a podium placement in third place. Stanford, which claimed the women’s team win with 44 points, earned four top-10 placements to win the team competition by 47 points over Tennessee.
THE FIELD
On the men’s side, No. 6 Stanford joins a 32-team field in the Gold Championship bracket that includes four other teams in the top-10 in the latest USTFCCCA rankings including No. 1 Iowa State. In total, 17 of the 32 teams in the men’s Gold Championship bracket are nationally ranked in the polls.
The Stanford women, ranked fifth in the nation, is one of four programs ranked in the top-10 that are part of the 32-team Gold Championship field. Oregon, which ranks second in the nation, leads the field that includes 11 teams currently ranked in the top-30 in the nation.