Men's Cross Country Places Fourth Friday

Friday, October 12

Montevallo, Ala.

9:30 am

University of Memphis

UAB Blazer Classic (M: 8k/W: 6k)

Erin Gilbert, 2018 Women's Cross Country

Photo by: Matthew Smith

Oct 12, 2018 | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

Blazer Classic (Men's Results)Blazer Classic (Women's Results)

Nine Tigers run personal-best times in UAB's Blazer Classic.

MONTEVALLO, Ala. – University of Memphis' Matthew Kamph and Paige Sandwell led the Tigers men's and women's cross country squads at UAB's Blazer Classic Friday morning. Kamph and Sandwell were the first Tigers to cross the finish line in the men's and women's races, respectively.

The men's 8k and women's 6k races were held at the University of Montevallo Cross Country Course, the site of the 2016 NCAA Division II Southeast Region Championships.

The men's team placed fourth behind Florida State (No. 5), Florida A&M (No. 6) and Tennessee Tech (No. 8), all ranked in the latest U.S. Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) South Region poll. The Tigers finished two spots ahead of in-state rival Tennessee, which was ranked No. 2 in the regional poll. Earlier this season, Memphis was ranked in the poll for three-straight weeks and climbed as high as No. 11.

The Tigers women's squad finished 11^th in Friday's race.

Kamph tied his career-best finish in an 8k race, placing seventh in a time of 24:50.46. It was Kamph's eighth top-25 performance of his career. For Sandwell, her 25^th-place finish Friday was the ninth top-25 of her career. After missing the 2018 opener due to injury, Sandwell has placed in the top-25 in each of her three appearances this season.

Tigers Tidbits

All five Memphis men's scorers finished in the top-35 of Friday's 8k race. It is the third time this season all five Tigers runners placed in the top-35. The Tigers also had their top-five among the 35 finishers in the Brooks Twilight Classic and Rhodes College Invitational.
Nine Tigers (6 men/3 women) set personal-bests in Friday's Blazer Classic. The biggest improvement on the women's side was freshman Erin Gilbert, who ran a 23:53.45 and shaved nearly 1:50 off her previous-best time (25:42.4). For the men, freshman Emmanuel Cullins ran a 27:26.46, which was just over 55 seconds better than his previous-best.
Freshmen Zachary Wyatt and Payton Gleason each posted a top-30 performance for the third time in 2018.
Tate Wyatt raced for the first time since the Sept. 15 Rhodes College Invitational and ran a personal-best 25:45.81.
Three Tigers men's runners – Christian Corsello, Lucas Finton and Avery Wood – all set personal-bests for a second-straight race. The trio improved their times in the Sept. 29 Greater Louisville Classic and then posted better times Friday.
Matthew Viveiros improved his 8k personal-best by six seconds.
Freshman Madi Ray and sophomore Ashley Peterson both bettered their previous-best 6k times by more than 20 seconds.

2018 Blazer Classic Results

Memphis Men's Team (8k): 4^th (114 points; top-5 finishers count in team score)

Place	Name	Time
7	Matthew Kamph	24:50.46
24	Zachary Wyatt	25:23.59
25	Payton Gleason	25:24.74
26	Matthew Viveiros	25:25.92
32	Tate Wyatt	25:45.81
45	Lucas Finton	26:29.39
47	Christian Corsello	26:43.20
	Jessie Boyett	27:22.58
	Emmanuel Cullins	27:26.46
	Avery Wood	27:59.61
	Brendan Hill	28:11.62
	Joshua Hamlet	29:12.46

Memphis Women's Team (6k): 11^th (283 points; top-5 finishers count in team score)

Place	Name	Time
25	Paige Sandwell	22:23.55
58	Gabrielle Byndas	23:35.32
64	Kristen Adams	23:49.53
66	Erin Gilbert	23:53.45
70	Madi Ray	23:57.79
73	Hannah Pettigrew	24:06.61
80	Ashley Peterson	24:43.98
	Solstice Saliba	25:26.56