A one-hour lightning delay, Chick-fil-A minis and a torrential downpour welcomed the Lipscomb men’s and women’s cross country team to Vaughn’s Gap on Saturday at the Commodore Classic.
The lighting delay occurred after the men’s race, which was at 9 a.m. The women were scheduled for 10:00 a.m. but had to wait until 11 a.m. to run.
The inclement weather was not common to the Commodore Classic.
“It’s pretty rare,” Bill Taylor, Director of Cross Country, said, “It’s only happened once since I’ve been at Lipscomb in 10 years, and it was actually the Belmont race one year, but it’s not very common for that to happen.”
Taylor did not believe the weather was an excuse for either team.
The men’s team performed well finishing 10th out of 23 teams, while also besting in-town rivals Belmont (12th) and Vanderbilt (18th) in the team rankings. The other in-state schools fared far better as MTSU finished in 1st, Tennessee in 8th, and Tennessee Tech in 9th.
“There’s a lot of younger guys who ran their first 8K today of their lives, so that’s a factor for the guys,” Taylor noted.
Freshman Brent Leber was the only Bison to finish in the top 50 and finished with a time of 25:29.7. Taylor was pleased with his performance in his first two outdoor meets.
“He’s a tough kid, and he’s willing to put himself in position to give himself a chance,” Taylor said. “I think that was his first 8K cross country race, and I just like that he’s brave and that he’s willing to go out there run top of the competition.”
In Lipscomb’s previous meet at Vaughn’s Gap, the men ran only the 5K and not the 8K, which helps them adjust back to racing.
“For the guys it’s hard, ‘cause it goes from 5K to 8K, and I think that extending the distance was a little worrisome to maybe some of the guys who hadn’t done it before,” Taylor said.
The Lady Bisons finished 9th in a 25-team field, while also besting rivals Belmont (18th). Vanderbilt collectively finished 3rd, while other in-state schools UT-Martin (19th), Tennessee Tech (22nd) and MTSU (12th) did not run as well.
“[The women] didn’t race as well as we did at Belmont for whatever reason, but there are days like that where you just have to move on,” Taylor commented.
Senior Sally Larson (41st), junior Brooke Kingma (47th), sophomore Avery Franklin (51st) and senior Barbra Lee Ball (57th) were the only Lady Bisons to finish in the top 60.
“I don’t know if the weather had any impact, per se. I don’t know why, but we just looked flat,” Taylor said.
The cross country teams travel to College Station, Texas for the A&M Invite next Saturday.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics.