On Friday, the Missouri Tigers raced at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course for the Gans Creek Classic. Many teams competed Friday at Gans Creek, including #10 Stanford and #28 Ole Miss. The Tigers had a great race, finishing 4th overall in front of that Ole Miss team and can use this performance as a stepping stone looking forward to the rest of the season.
This was the sixth time that Gans Creek has held their classic, but this year was different. Last year, the sun’s blistering heat turned a runner’s paradise into a grueling challenge where runners looked gassed. However, Friday was a completely different image of this course. This year, the course was given a nice cool breeze and a 61 degree temperature at the start of the race. And just like that, records were broken.
For the men, the all time course record at Gans was set by Alabama’s Eliud Kipsnag with an 8K time of 23:33 in the 2021 SEC Championships. However, many runners topped that time in Friday’s race, including Missouri’s Ryder James who finished in 11th place. Just because James didn’t place in the top 10 doesn’t mean his race should be discredited. Sitting outside of the Top 20 through the first half of the race, his strategy from the start was to “Stay asleep, stay calm” and “Don’t use too much mental energy” in the first 4K of the race. James’ strategy helped him move up ten spots and lead the Tigers to a top-5 finish as a team.
Other notable Tigers included Drew Rogers who placed 26th with a time of 23:44, Blake Morris placing 46th at 24:02 and Tyler Freiner and Declan Tunney coming in 51st and 52nd with times of 24:07 and 24:08.
James talked about how much he loved his teammates and how each helped get the fourth place finish for Mizzou. He believes that Gans is “A top three course in the nation.” James was also glad to see his teammates run “crazy times” as well and believes they have a chance to be a real competitor in the SEC.
“We knew the teams that were gonna be out there and it was nice to get some SEC wins,” Missouri head coach Kyle Levermore said, adding that their focus wasn’t on those other teams, but on finding their identity.
Levermore believes that the identity for the Tigers is pack-running, which “wins big races and small races.” One runner he was extremely proud of was Declan Tunney.
“(He) ran the best race I’ve seen him run in a Mizzou uniform,” Levermore said.
Levermore is proud of his team right now as even though they are in a tough stretch of the year, He continued to give credit to his team, saying “It’s all them. I give them the training, I’m there with them everyday but this is up to them and… those guys lead this team through their actions and I think I’ve seen a big chance from them and I’m just very excited for them.”
The Tigers will race next at the Crimson Classic on October 18th in Tuscaloosa, Alabama at Harry Pritchett Running Park.