Louisville, KY - In a highly competitive meet, the Lincoln Memorial Men's and Women's Cross Country teams dominated at the Swags Sports Louisville XC Classic, with both sides taking home a fourth-place finish in a field crowded with top-end talent. The Men competed in the 8k Blue meet, while the Women raced in the 6k Blue meet. 

LINK TO RESULTS 

THE BASICS   

• Location: E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park, Louisville, Ky 

• LMU Men: 4th out of 24 teams (172 Points) 

• LMU Women: 4th out of 27 teams (122 Points)   

• LMU Top Performers: Braniff Mahoney, 6th out of 228 (25:20.1); Greta Chizzali, 15th out of 206 (23:08.1)   

HOW IT HAPPENED    

• The Men's team earned their highest finish since placing third at the season opening meet, taking the fourth spot in a crowded field 

• Five Railsplitters on the Men's side would take home new career-best times in the 8k, as Vance Laster, Conner Chandler, Roman Borghetti-Metz, Stephen Scallion, and Logan Hudson would reset their career high marks 

• The Splitters finished two-spots ahead of Division I Loyola-Maryland and seven places in front of the University of San Diego, defeating the Toreros by 97 points as LMU would finish above four Division I opponents  

• On the Women's side, Lincoln Memorial took home the top Division II finish for the day, taking wins over conference foe Carson-Newman and regional opponent Converse 

• Six from the Splitters set new career 6k records in Louisville, as Natalia Iker, Alyssa Roberts, Audrey Rush, Jaycee Frye, Bronwyn Tadlock, and Alexis Sanelli, who earned her first collegiate 6k finish 

• The Railsplitters finished 290 points better than Division I Mercyherst and 412 points ahead of DI Saint Francis University  

FOR THE RAILSPLITTERS    

• Mahoney took home the top spot for the Railsplitters in consecutive meets, finishing just 15 seconds behind his career-high in the 8k while holding his second-highest ever XC placement 

• Jaxson Branham finished the 8k in 25:53.0, placing second for LMU in back-to-back meets while taking home the 22nd spot in the meet 

• Vance Laster set a new career-fastest 8k time for the second-meet in a row, placing 35th with a mark of 26:06.9 

• Conner Chandler would also set an 8k record for his cross country career, as the senior completed the race in 26:29.5 to come in 52nd 

• Luis Boerkey rounded out the Splitters top five, placing 58th overall in the crowded field with a time of 26:32.6  

• Chizzali had her third performance where she led the way for LMU, finishing the 6k in 23:08.1 in her best time of the season 

• Theresa Brosthaus placed one spot behind Chizzali, coming in at 17th with a mark of 23:17.4 for her best 6k time of the year 

• Jacie Begley helped the Splitters fill up the top 25, coming in 24th with a 23:33.4 time, shaving a minute of her previous best time of the year 

• Weslyn McIntosh took home the 26th spot on the day, as her 23:37.0 finish was good for fourth on the team 

• Natalia Iker would come in with a 24:00.5 time, setting a career-best time in the 6k while placing 40th in the race overall 

QUOTE FROM COACH KAVALUNAS  

• "Today had great team performances for both men and women. The men were able to close the gap between our top two and three four and five runners. The women ran strong as a pack keeping the top 6 at about 60 seconds apart" 

  
UP NEXT   

• The Railsplitters head to Huntsville in two weeks, competing in the UAH Charger Invitational on October 24th