Louisville, Ky. – October 2, 2019 – On Oct. 5, the Louisville Sports Commission (LSC) will host 2,700 runners representing more than 140 colleges and universities from 31 states in the 18th Annual Live in Lou Cross Country Classic. The Live in Lou Cross Country Classic will be the nation’s largest college meet in the U.S. The field will be comprised of 35 men's teams and 34 women's teams currently ranked in national collegiate cross country polls (NCAA Division I Regional and National, NCAA Division II National, NCAA Division III National and NAIA).

The meet will be held at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park (Sawyer), site of more than 40 NCAA and NAIA national and regional championships, pre-nationals and conference championships dating back nearly two decades. The first of six races will start at 9:30 a.m. with the final race at 12:45 p.m. Men will run eight kilometers; women will run five kilometers. Admission is $5 per person.

The men's race will feature Murfreesboro, Tenn., Conference USA power Middle Tennessee State, currently ranked no. 21 in the National Coaches Poll. Other teams in contention for a top five team finish are the University of Louisville, ranked no. 9 in the Southeast Regional Coaches Poll, the University of Tennessee, ranked no. 7 in the South Regional Coaches Poll and Campbell University (N.C.), ranked no. 12 in the Southeast Regional Coaches Poll.

Individually, the men’s race should be one of best early season matchups of All-American student-athletes in the country. The lead pack is likely to include Middle Tennessee’s duo of Jacob Choge (10,000 meter and 5,000 meter personal records of 28:42.31 and 13:39.90, respectively) and Kigen Chemadi (30th in the 2018 NCAA DI cross country championship and 5,000 meter and 3,000 meter personal records of 13:46.84 and 8:38.28, respectively), Campbell’s Amon Kemboi (seventh in the 2018 NCAA DI cross country championship and 10,000 meter and 5,000 meter personal records of 28:55.46 and 13:37.48, respectively) and University of Louisville’s Emmanuel Cheboson (All-ACC performer with 10,000 meter and 5,000 meter personal records of 28:42.13 and 13:37.48, respectively).

The women’s race is expected to be a wide-open competition, with five-to-seven teams in consideration for the team title. Teams in contention for a top five finish are SEC powers Vanderbilt University (Tenn.) ranked no. 5 in the South Regional Coaches Poll, University of Tennessee ranked no. 9 in the South Regional Coaches Poll, Ball State University (Muncie, Ind.) currently ranked no. 14 in the Great Lakes Regional Coaches Poll, Middle Tennessee State ranked no. 7 in the South Regional Coaches Poll, University of Kentucky, ranked no. 9 in the Southeast Regional Coaches Poll and the University of Louisville, ranked no. 14 in the Southeast Regional Coaches Poll.

The women's individual race will be a matchup of several top collegiate runners. Expected to lead the way is University of Louisville’s Ivine Chemutai (10,000 meter and 5,000 meter personal records of 33:54.84 and 16:42.25, respectively), University of Tennessee’s Katie Thronson (2019 Cavalier Cross County Classic winner with a 1,500 meter personal record of 4:25.79), Emily Kearney from SCAD- Atlanta (NAIA national champion with 3,000 meter and 5,000 meter personal records of 9:30.42 and 16:27.89, respectively), Middle Tennessee’s Eusila Chepkemei and Xavier University’s Anna Kostarellis (3,000 meter and 5,000 meter personal records of 9:33.43 of 16:49.24, respectively).

The Live in Lou Cross Country Classic will serve as the pre-nationals for the 2019 NCAA Division III Men’s and Women’s Cross Country National Championship, hosted by the LSC and Spalding University on Nov. 23 at Sawyer.

The afternoon Silver races will feature several highly ranked NCAA Division III teams from across the country. On the men’s side, the no. 1 ranked North Central College (Ill.) will be tested by no. 5 ranked University of Wisconsin- La Crosse and no. 9 ranked Johns Hopkins (Md.). On the women’s side, no. 5 ranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology will battle no. 10 ranked Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (N.Y.) and no. 12 ranked Johns Hopkins (Md.).

Again this year, there will be competitive high school and middle school races contested following the college events. There also will be elementary school races contested at Sawyer on Friday starting at 5:15 p.m. It is expected that 3,800 middle and high school athletes from Kentucky, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Mississippi, West Virginia, Tennessee and Ohio will compete.  

For any further information, please contact:

COLLEGE SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Date:

Saturday, Oct. 5, 2019

Race Times:

Men’s Gold race 9:30 a.m.

Women’s Gold race 10:15 a.m.

Men’s Blue race 10:45 a.m.

Women’s Blue race 11:30 a.m.

Men’s Silver race (NCAA DIII pre-nationals) 12 p.m.

Women’s Silver race (NCAA DIII pre-nationals) 12:45 p.m.

High School events anticipated to start at 1:15 p.m.

Location:

E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park

3000 Freys Hill Road

Louisville, KY 40241