Greater Louisville Classic Meet Information

The UDM men's and women's cross country program returns to action after being idle last week as the Titans travel to the “Bluegrass State” to run in the 8th Annual Greater Louisville Classic on Saturday at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer Park.

The event, which will be run on the same course that will host the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships in November, features over 70 teams in what is shaping up to be the largest collegiate cross country meet ever held in the south. Some of the schools that will compete in the race include the host Cardinals, Kentucky, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, Purdue, Tennessee and Vanderbilt.

“The race might be even tougher than the past and we get a look at a couple of teams ranked in the region,” said head coach Guy Murray. “We will see how we stack up for one of our goals to challenge for a top 15 spot at the regional later in the year.” 

The day begins with the gold races as the men's 8k is set to go off at 9:30 a.m., followed by the women's 5k at 10:15. 

The men have been led by senior Alex Gould (Comstock Park, MI/Comstock Park) and sophomore Alex Vanias (Leroy, MI/Pine River) in the first three races, but will look for a boost from two-time All-Horizon league selection Pat Liederbach (Petoskey, MI/Petoskey), who is set to run for the first time this season. 

“Last year, we had one of the best days in the history of the program with all 10 guys running PR's and Pat getting under 25,” said Murray. “We are going to be hard pressed to match that, but I think this team might have a bit more potential.”

“We will also run the full team for the first time of the season. We are coming off a good week of training on the off week and are getting healthy and rounding into form, but we need a good race here and to stay healthy and keep working hard to achieve our goals.”

The women have improved every week in part due to senior Beata Gorzynska (Ilawa, Poland/Mazurski of Olsztynie) back-to-back two career best performances in the last two races. The Titans have also seen freshman Alexandria Vintevoghel (Casco, MI / Marine City) step up to be one of the top runners so far, combined with the effort they are getting from the returning veterans in senior Jennifer DeFauw (Harper Woods, MI/Grosse Pointe North), junior Kristie Ferrans (Carleton, MI/Monroe) and sophomore Stephanie Rossman (Caledonia, MI/Caledonia).

“This is a great opportunity for the women to see how good they are on a fast course and challenging field,” Murray said. “We've had a great start to the season and they will benefit from the week off and hopefully put together their best races of the season.”

For meet information, including the maps of each course, and final results click here.