The Missouri Tigers’ Women’s Cross Country team had a fantastic performance today at the Gans Creek Classic, placing tenth overall with a combined score of 336 in the six kilometer race.
The Tigers finished this race behind five SEC schools in Tennessee, Ole Miss, Florida, Auburn and Kentucky.
Leading the pack for the Tigers was sophomore Rahel Broemmel who placed 16th and ran a 20:52, senior Nicole Louw who placed 52nd with a 21:08 and senior McKenna Revord who ran a 21:25 and placed 77th. After the race, Broemmel talked about what was going through her mind during the race and said that “little affirmations” helped push her to her third straight top 25 finish.
Broemmel believes that coming to Mizzou was the right decision and that she really likes it here. She has led the Tigers in all three races which she competed in, and has been a fantastic addition to the team.
If you haven’t heard of Broemmel, you should familiarize yourself, as she could be a big part of the Tigers’ future in cross country and track. Broemmel, who transferred in from Arkansas State and is from Dortmund, Germany, has had a terrific start since putting on the Tiger uniform. She won the Mizzou Opener 5K with a time of 17:34 and finished 21st at the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational with a 21:01 in the 6K. Broemmel is also the only Tiger on the team this year to go to last year’s nationals. Her philosophy is if you have fun when running, then you will do a lot better. She hopes to once again go to nationals, this time representing the Tigers and with her new teammates. Her teammates all agreed that this race was a great step in the right direction that can leave them “excited for the next couple of weeks” in terms of becoming better.
Along with helping the Tigers place tenth overall today, Broemmel was one of many runners to break the course record, which was previously held by Mercy Chalangat from Alabama. Broemmel beat it by over two minutes. The runners were truly flying through Gans today, and it showed through all the races.
Missouri head coach Kyle Levermore spoke after the race, saying “We’re young, we’re not lacking talent, we’re lacking experience.” Among the Tigers that ran for the women today, half of them were underclassmen and alongside Broemmel, freshman Charlotte Cullen placed for the Tigers. While Levermore thought the team had a good race, he feels that there’s still a lot to work on, as there is with every meet.
Overall, Levermore did mention that he felt Broemmel and Loew ran well, with the latter coming in near the record as well.
Looking ahead, the Tigers will race at the Crimson Classic on October 18th in Tuscaloosa, Alabama at Harry Pritchett Running Park.