Missouri cross-country finished third in the women’s 5K race and seventh in the men’s 8K race at the Commodore Classic Saturday in Nashville, Tennessee. Tigers senior Karissa Schweizer finished first in the individual 5K in her first race of the season.
The women finished behind first-place Ohio State and Vanderbilt, while Middle Tennessee State won the men’s race.
Schweizer came out strong in her season debut, torching the competition to set a course record of 16:25.4 in the 5K, finishing ahead of the runner-up by more than a full minute.
With the finish, Schweizer also beat her own time of 16:46.7 in last season’s Commodore Classic, which was then the course’s second-fastest time for a 5K. That run would lead to a series of dominating wins that culminated in Schweizer’s NCAA championship title.
The next runners to cross the finish line for the women’s team were redshirt seniors Megan Cunningham, who came in 14th, and Kaitlyn Fischer, who came in 17th.
“Megan showed what she is capable of by running in second place most of the last 2K,” coach Marc Burns said in a press release. “She struggled a bit in the heat over the last 800 meters, but she is close to being at a very high level.”
Freshman Jenna Lutzow was the fourth Tiger to finish, finishing in 37th place. Lutzow has impressed thus far in her rookie season, earning SEC Freshman of the Week honors for the week of Aug. 28 and finishing eighth in the JK Gold Invitational.
Redshirt sophomore Thomas George was the first Tiger to finish for the men’s side in the 8K in 13th place. Redshirt junior Evan Schulte and redshirt freshman Justin Loquercio placed 34th and 35th, respectively.
The three were the only Mizzou men to finish in the top 50 as the rest of the team lagged behind, finishing slower than 26 minutes for the 8K.
“We have to be better top to bottom,” Burns said in a press release, referring to the men’s team. “We are a much better team than we showed today.”
The men’s team will hope to improve in its next outing, the Cowboy Jamboree in Stillwater, Oklahoma, on Sept. 30.
_Edited by Eli Lederman | elederman@themaneater.com_
