LOUISVILLE, Ky.- Running in a field of over three hundred runners, the Kennesaw State men’s cross country team set nine individual personal records on their way to a ninth place finish in the Greater Louisville Classic. Competing against 37 other schools from across the country on Saturday, the men proved that they are a force to be reckoned with.

Visiting the meet hosted by the University of Louisville for the first time, the men found were able to get a glimpse at South region rivals Georgia, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, University of Tennessee- Chattanooga and Middle Tennessee State. Knowing how tough the competition would be, head cross country coach Stan Sims was happy with the end result and how well his team is improving.

“We knew the competition level would be high and that it would be a really fast field,” Sims said. “So far this season, the men are fulfilling the high expectations they have set for themselves. It is great to see are those personal records being broken especially in our top five.”

Only two weeks after breaking his 8k personal record, Nathan Haskins once again set a new record, crossing the finish line in 24:03. Putting him in 14th place, Haskins increased his time by over twenty seconds. Seeing how the team sized up against the opposition, Haskins knows the team is on the right track.

“This race showed us a lot today since we were competing against a lot of the teams in our South region,” Haskins said. “We only landed seven seconds behind Georgia which is awesome to see how much our team is progressing. It was really exciting to compete against some of the runners in the nation and I am looking to just keep getting better.”

Running in only their second race of the season, Nabil Hamid and Jaakko Nieminen came in 47th and 48th respectively. Hamid set a personal record by over a minute, coming in at 24:41. Nieminen broke his previous personal record by 55 seconds at 24:42. Finishing up the top five were Ryan Burruss (25:24) and Piotr Witczak (25:30), who also set personal records.

“This was by far the fastest course I have ever raced on,” Hamid said. “I was amazed by my time and the fact that I beat my personal record by a minute. Overall, I felt like we had a really good day.”



Team Results

1 Univ. of Louisville - 97 points

2 Colorado School of Mines - 155 points        

3 Grand Valley State Univ.  - 172 points     

4. Eastern Kentucky Univ. -  260 points  

5 Shippensburg Univ. -  273 points

 6 Southern Illinois Univ. - 281 points 

 7 Univ. at Albany  - 318 points

 8 Univ. of Georgia  -  330 points

 9 Kennesaw State Univ. - 352  points

10 Queens Univ. of Charlotte - 387 points

11 Edinboro Univ. - 428 points

12 (Tie) Ole Miss - 449 points

12 Harding Univ.- 449 points

14 UNC-Greensboro - 451 points

15 Davidson College  - 476 points

16 Washington Univ.-St.Louis  - 477 points

17 Univ. of Missouri  - 482 points

18 Univ. of Southern Indiana  - 488 points

19 Univ.of TN-Chattanooga - 566 points

19 University of Kentucky - 566 points

21 Georgia Tech - 595 points

22 Bryan College - 597 points

23 Columbus State Univ. - 612 points

24 Middle TN State Universit  - 617 points

25. Mississippi State Univ. - 622 points

26. Belmont University  - 628 points

27. Southeast Missouri State - 660 points

28. Bellarmine University - 688 points

29. (Tie) East Carolina Univ. - 691 points

29. Shorter Univ. - 691 points

31 Western KY University - 703 points

32. Illinois State Univ. - 722 points

33. Elon Univ. - 733 points

34. U.So.Carolina –Upstate - 753 points

35. McKendree Univ. - 777 points

36. Missouri Southern State U- 804 points

37. Univ. of Miami (Fl.) - 878 points

38. Vanderbilt University- 941 points



Individual Results

14. Nathan Haskins (24:03)

48. Nabil Hamid (24:41)

49. Jaakko Nieminen (24:42)

128. Ryan Burruss (25:24)

141. Piotr Witczak (25:30)

300. Zach Tupper (27:29)

305. Cole Jackob (27:36)

308. Andrew Greeson (27:42)

313. Matt Weiden (28:25)

315. Kyle Pearson (28:28)