The Murray State cross country teams headed to Nashville, Tenn., for the Commodore Classic on Saturday morning. Each of the Racer runners competed at the four race event hosted by Vanderbilt.
In the women’s “Gold” race, Murray State finished 11th out of 24 teams and third out of the seven OVC teams that competed. Abbie Ashbee-Simmonds was the top finisher for the second consecutive race for MSU. Ashbee-Simmonds placed 33rd with a time of 22:24.83.
Carolyne Tanui finished in 55th with a time of 22:48.88. Rebecca Hbetamu placed 71st in a time of 23:09.66, while Abbie Oliver placed three spots behind here in 74th with a time of 23:15.91. Brittany Bohn ran a time of 24:03.79, Anna Grimes finished with a time of 24:25.11. Leah Krause, 24:52.95, Anne Jablinski, 25:14.84, Jacquelyn Thate, 25:23.89 and Bridget Stichnot, 25:58.03 rounded-out the finishes for the Racers.
In the “Black” race, Abby Baker finished 28th with a time of 25:52.20. Sara Davis (27:59.90) and Katie Johnson (28:31.40) placed 69th and 75th respectively. Rebecca Morris (30:24.10), Heatherly Paschall (30:50.30) and Kimmy Siebert (35:39.60) also ran in the second race of the day for MSU.
In the men’s “Gold” race the Racers finished in 22nd as a team, but placed ahead of OVC opponents UT Martin and Tennessee State and just behind Jacksonville State and Tennessee Tech.
Lucas Prather (27:11.87) paced the Racers for the second-straight race to begin the season. Prather finished 126th in the meet. Jarred Koerner was 146th with at time of 27:51.32. Clayton Hall ran a time of 28:46.96 and placed 159th.
Jordan Althoff, 29:13.15, Chase Darnell, 30:14.98, James Chute, 31:19.21 and Will Elledge, 31:28.30 also competed in the “Gold” race.
Griffin Kelley (36:16.00) and Zack Calvert (37:05.00) ran in the “Black” race for MSU.
The Racers will take next weekend off before traveling to South Bend, Ind., for the Notre Dame Invitational on Sept. 28.