Cross Country Has Top-10 Performances Saturday

Saturday, October 5

Louisville, Ky.

8 am CT

University of Memphis

Greater Louisville Classic (M: 8k/W: 5k)

Women's Team, 2019 Women's Cross Country

Photo by: Matthew A. Smith

Oct 05, 2019 | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

Men's, women's teams combined for 15 personal-bests in Greater Louisville Classic.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Although the postseason is still a month away, Saturday's Greater Louisville Classic provided the University of Memphis cross country teams a feel of what it will be like in November, and the Tigers proved to be up to the challenge.

The Memphis men's and women's squads recorded top-10 team finishes Saturday. Both teams ran in their respective Gold Races, facing several regionally-ranked opponents and other top competition from across the country. The Tigers men placed eighth, and the women 10^th.

In the men's 8k Gold Race, sophomore Zachary Wyatt was the first Tiger to cross the finish line, doing so in 27^thplace with a time of 24:21.19. On the women's side, senior Paige Sandwell was the first Memphis runner to finish the 5k Gold Race, coming in 55^thwith a time of 17:59.83.

Up Next
The Tigers are off next weekend, but return to action for their final regular-season race Oct. 18 at the UAB Blazer Classic in Birmingham, Ala.

Tigers Tidbits

The Memphis men ran their third-straight 8k race of the season, while the women raced in their third 5k event of 2019.
The Tigers men's and women's teams both made positive jumps during their respective races Saturday.
The men's squad was in 17^thplace at the 2.1k split, 13^that the 3.9k split and finished in 8^thplace. The nine-position jump was the second-best among the top-10 teams (Appalachian State made a 24-place move from the 2.1k split to the final).
The Memphis women had the largest positive move of any team in the 5k Gold Race. The Tigers were in20^thplace at the 2.1k split, 14^that the 3.9k split and finished 10^th. The next largest jump in the women's race was four spots by UNC Greensboro, which placed 18^th.
The women's squad placed ahead of three regionally-ranked teams in Cincinnati (No. 15 Great Lakes Region), Chattanooga (No. 15 South Region) and Vanderbilt (No. 4 South Region).
The women's finish ahead of American Athletic Conference foe Cincinnati Saturday after placing just behind the Bearcats – by just five points – two weeks ago at the Rhodes College Invitational.
On the men's side, Memphis finished ahead of regionally-ranked Bowling Green (No. 15 Great Lakes Region), Kentucky (No. 11 Southeast Region) and Vanderbilt (No. 15 South Region).
Eight Tigers women's runners set 5k personal-bests in Saturday's Greater Louisville Classic. The estimated average personal-best improvement among the eight was 35 seconds.
Chablis Shreffler had the best 5k personal-best jump of the eight women's runners. The freshman ran 18:13.50 Saturday and cut over a minute off her previous-best time of 19:15.81 at season-opening City Auto Twilight Classic.
Senior Paige Sandwell raced in her fourth-straight Greater Louisville Classic Saturday. Sandwell ran a 5k personal-best 17:59.83, improving on her previous-best by nearly 25 seconds (18:23.5; 2018 Greater Louisville Classic).
In her four career appearances in the Greater Louisville Classic, Sandwell improved her time each year. Over her four runs in the event, she shaved 1:26 off her time (19:26.3 in 2016).
Senior Gabrielle Byndas continued to reset her 5k personal-best in her final collegiate season. In the Sept. 7 North Alabama Invitational, Byndas improved her time by 26 seconds. On Saturday, she cut another 25 seconds off. She has improved her time by 51 seconds in her last two 5k outings.
Seven of the 10 Memphis men's runners set 8k personal-bests Saturday. The estimated average personal-best improvement among the seven runners was 33 seconds.
The largest personal-best performance on the men's side was turned in by freshman Bradley Turner. He ran an 8k personal-best 26:35.53, shaving more than 51 seconds off his previous-best of 27:27.0 at the Rhodes College Invitational.
Other Tigers men setting 8k personal-bests Saturday were Christian Corsello, Jake Hollinger, Peter Kostarellis, Max Rathburn, Tate Wyatt and Zachary Wyatt.
In the last two races, Christian Corsello has cut nearly 1:30 off his 8k best entering 2019. At the Sept. 21 Rhodes College Invitational, Corsello sliced over 1:10 off his 8k time and then on Saturday, he cut off 17 more seconds.

Men's Results (8k GOLD Race)/Team Finish: 8^th(309 points)

Place	Runner	Time
27.	Zachary Wyatt	24:21.19
34.	Tate Wyatt	24:25.43
54.	Payton Gleason	24:40.66
73.	Jake Hollinger	24:50.26
130.	Christian Corsello	25:13.31
167.	Peter Kostarellis	25:29.33
273.	Max Rathburn	26:22.75
	Bradley Turner	26:35.53
	Clay Campbell	26:48.29
	Emmanuel Cullins	27:17.56

Women's Results (5k GOLD Race)/Team Finish: 10^th(367 points)

Place	Runner	Time
55.	Paige Sandwell	17:59.83
64.	Brooke Mussche	18:08.79
73.	Chablis Shreffler	18:13.50
90.	Gabrielle Byndas	18:20.52
99.	Callie Friske	18:25.05
121	Brooke Calvo	18:35.11
161.	Chloe Figgins	18:49.34
	Solstice Saliba	19:22.29
	Hannah Anderson	19:30.94
	Olivia Tolkinen	19:42.50