On Saturday Oct. 2, the Tech cross country teams competed in the Greater Louisville Classic. The men’s and women’s teams placed 21st and 25th overall, with 24th and 35th-place individual finishes by junior Mary Kate DuBard and sophomore Patrick Barron, respectively.
DuBard was the only Jacket to finish in the top 25. With a time of 17:40.02, she placed 24th out of a field of 302. Freshman Megan Breitbach had the second best Jacket finish, placing 135th overall with a time of 18:48.29.
The women’s team ended the day with an average time of 18:46.56, scoring 641 points and placing 25th out of 93 teams. Grand Valley State was the team winner with a score of 106, just ahead of second place Vanderbilt with a score of 107.
Neely Spence, a junior at Shippensburg University, placed first overall, setting a new course record of 16:32.90.
For the men, Barron, who has led the team in all of their races this year, finished 35th in a field of 323 with a time of 24:44.35. Coming in 53rd overall and second for the Jackets, senior D.J. McMillan crossed the line in 24:44.35.
With an average time of 25:32.12, the men placed 21st out of 92 teams. With a score of just 97, host team Lousiville was the men’s team winner.
Meshack Koyiaki of Columbus State University, after a final sprint to the end, finished with a time of 23:20.75, beating out second place Western Kentucky and third place USC Upstate by a margin of just 1.53 seconds.