During Saturday’s meet, there was a 30 degrees difference in temperature from the Bisons’ last race at Vaughn’s Gap, the Belmont Opener. Two weeks ago, the men’s and women’s cross country teams were running out of clothing items to remove in the sweltering heat. Two weeks later at the Vanderbilt Classic, they were struggling to find enough to put on.
At around 60 degrees, the brisk, overcast morning lengthened their warm-up some, but overall the temperature was welcomed by the participating athletes and fans alike. With nearly double the attendance from the Belmont Opener, Vaughn’s Gap was electric.
“We’re thrilled with our women’s performance today. We finished 4th overall without our top three women out there, so, great performances,” head coach Bill Taylor said.
Despite withholding Sally Larson, Danielle Walker and Madi Talbert from the competition the Lady Bisons showed that they still have a lot to bring to the table. The trio of runers will compete in Boston in two weeks and coach Taylor is hoping the girls will make a statement.
“Maybe not visible to everybody because of not running our top three, but we’re really happy and we feel like it’s setting us up awesomely for the end of the season,” Taylor said.
Lipscomb sophomore Barbara Ball finished with a time of 17:43.54. Ball, who is the current Atlantic Sun Runner of the Week, stepped up for the Lady Bisons in her teammates’ absence.
“Today was great. The weather was so much better than our last race here,” Ball said. “We added a few girls which definitely helped out the pack. Our solid pack was able to push each other through the first mile, and until the end, so it was great.”
Freshman Paige Stoner fwas the first of the Lady Bisons to cross the finish line with a time of 17:33:39.
“It felt like cross country weather, so that was really nice. I’m really excited that we had more of the team in the race this time,” says Stoner.
Kayla Montgomery experienced her first race of her college career at the Vanderbilt Classic, where she welcomed the elite competition.
“Back in high school I never ran that close to teammates, so it was really cool to finish right with Paige and have a yellow shirt right in front of me and right next to me,” Montgomery said. “It was really neat.”
Coach Bill Taylor was just as happy with the men’s performance for the race.
“We didn’t run our top four guys today, but we’re really looking at what our five, six and seven guys are looking like,” Taylor said. “DA Lowery ran a big PR, he ran great. Jared Daedler also ran great, and Daniel Lenart looked awesome. We’re happy with where they are and we’re going to go with full strength to Boston in two weeks.”
Lowery put up a time of 26:04.02. Jared Daedler ran the race in a time of 26:11.50, while Daniel Lenart finished with a time of 26:21.36.
Lenart broke his own personal record in the 8k by over a minute.
“I was really impressed today with how well we did as a team,” Lenart said. “Our performance is impressive and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season a lot. I think we have a great chance to do some very big things. I felt good about my race, only my second 8k since an injury last year. I was pleased to run a solid time and to feel good doing it. I feel blessed that I’m healthy right now.”
Photo courtesy of Hannah Feiten