COLUMBIA, Mo. — With three top-10 placements in the women’s six-kilometer run, Stanford cross country once again earned silverware the 7th annual Gans Creek Classic as the Cardinal took the top overall spot in the women’s black bracket while the Cardinal men grabbed 14th in the gold bracket in a field of the nation’s best.
Stanford, which followed up its second-place finish at the USF Invite last month with a win on Friday, had three harriers jump to the top-10 through the 2000m checkpoint to finish with three inside the top-10.
In just her second collegiate race, Hanne Thomsen led the Cardinal with a third place overall finish, rushing from ninth at the 2000m checkpoint to third at the 5000m to snag her first medal placement and a personal-best time of 20:15.8 to score for the Cardinal.
Riley Stewart, who never wavered below sixth overall following the first third of the race, placed fifth for the Cardinal with a season-best time of 20:38 after a sprint to the finish saw her shave nine seconds from her final two splits to the finish. Julia Flynn rounded out the top-10 finishers for the Cardinal, clinching sixth place after shaving 10 seconds off her final split in a sprint to the finish.
Continuing her strong start to her freshman campaign, Maya de Brouwer grabbed a personal-best time of 21:14, placing 21st overall and scoring 18 points for the Cardinal while veteran Hillary Studdert grabbed the final scoring placement for Stanford, securing 21 points with a 26th overall finish after moving from 51st overall through the 2000m checkpoint to 26th at the finish.
Also racing for the Cardinal, Ava Parekh and Clemmie Lilley had strong races as Parekh placed inside the top-50 with a 47th overall finish while Lilley completed her first collegiate race, finishing 116th after not finishing her debut at the USF Invite last month. Amelia Everett also completed her first race this season, running strong to finish with a time of 22:55.6.
On the men’s side, the speed was on display as Leo Young once again led the way for the Cardinal. Young, who rewrote the record books last season at Gans Creek with the second-best time in the course’s history, finished in 23:05.9 which would have placed first all-time on last season’s course records. However, this season’s field broke all of the top-25 course times by nearly 45 seconds as Young took home a 27th place finish.
Behind the junior, Paul Bergeron nabbed 66th overall in his first appearance this season, finishing with a time of 23:32.2 having moved up 54 spots following the 2000m checkpoint.
Following Bergeron, Stanford formed its own peloton of runners with Nolan Topper leading a pack of Cardinal to the finish that included Byron Grevious, Vincent Recupero and Milo Skapinsky. Recupero and Skapinsky both made moves to end the race, increasing their placements through the final 4000 meters to earn season best times.
Quinn White and Josh Bell also ran well for Stanford’s both earned season-best times to conclude the event for the Cardinal. In total, all of Stanford’s participants nabbed season-best times en route to the 14th overall team finish for the Cardinal.
Gans Creek Classic
At Gans Creek Recreation Area Cross Country Course
Women’s Black Bracket (6K, 3.73 miles)
Team leaders - 1, Stanford 53; 2, Texas A&M-CC 140; 3, Tulsa 147; 4, Texas Tech 164; 5, Navy 170
Individuals - 1, Elizabeth Khatevi (TAMUCC) 19:58.8; 2, Evyn Humphrey (Tulsa) 20:14.6; 3, Hanne Thomsen (Stanford) 20:15.8; 5, Riley Stewart (Stanford) 20:38.0; 6, Julia Flynn (Stanford) 20:46.9; 21, Maya de Brouwer (Stanford) 21:14.0; 26, Hillary Studdert (Stanford) 21:21.1; 47, Ava Parekh (Stanford) 21:42.9; 116, Clemmie Lilley (Stanford) 22:28.6; 150, Amelia Everett (Stanford) 22:55.6.
Men’s Gold Bracket (8K, 4.97 miles)
Team leaders - 1, Iowa State 47; 2, Virginia 107; 3, Colorado 126; 4, Alabama 193; 5, BYU 199; 14, Stanford 451
Individuals - 1, Solomon Kipchoge (Washington State) 22:24.7; 2, Joash Ruto (Iowa State) 22:32.0; 3, Bernard Cheruiyot (Tulane) 22:32.4; 27, Leo Young (Stanford) 23:05.9; 66, Paul Bergeron (Stanford) 23:32.2; 113, Nolan Topper (Stanford) 23:56.0; 127, Byron Grevious (Stanford) 24:01.5; 130, Vincent Recupero (Stanford) 24:03.6; 135, Milo Skapinsky (Stanford) 24:05.3; 158, Quinn White (Stanford) 24:13.3; 170, Josh Bell (Stanford) 24:18.7.