The fourth-ranked men’s team finished 14th out of 29 at the Greater Louisville Classic on Saturday, Oct. 1, while the No. 2 women’s team took 13th out of 30.

Seniors Liz Phillips (17:52.48) and Erica Jackey (17:54.58) led the Bears past big-name schools such as the University of Kentucky, Marquette University and the University of Louisville in the women’s 5K. Jackey shattered her personal record in the 5K by nearly a minute, set at last year’s Louisville meet, and ran her best mile-split time of the season.

“This is probably one of the best Louisville meets we’ve ever had as far as overall how many people ran well or set personal records,” Phillips said.

Head coach Jeff Stiles believes Jackey is capable of consistently performing at the level she did on Saturday.

“There’s no such thing as a fluke,” Stiles said. “That was a big breakthrough, no doubt about it. That was probably the highlight on the women’s side.”

The men’s team defeated the University of Alabama and the University of Mississippi, among others. Three of the top five Wash. U. runners cut at least 28 seconds from their 8K times at last week’s Wheaton College Invitational, including leading runner Michael Burnstein (24:44.13), who was nearly 40 seconds faster.

“You just run fast [on this course] because there are no hills and there’s just a fast surface,” said Burnstein, a senior. “But also there’s a lot more competition this week because last week … was a really small, low-key meet, and it was all Division III, whereas this week, there were some of the top Division I programs in the country and just a lot more people pushing the pace.”

Returning to his hometown of Louisville, junior David Hamm (25:00.41) posted the second best time of his career in his first meet of the season. Hamm started racing later in the season so his body will not wear down before postseason meets.

“I pretty much ran as well as I could have hoped,” Hamm said.

Freshmen Ryan Senci (25:31.07) and Garrett Patrick (25:33.65) dropped 28 seconds and 33 seconds from their Wheaton times, respectively, to place third and fourth for the Bears. Sophomore Elliott Petterson (25:45.79), the fifth man, cut 15 seconds.

Senior Tucker Hartley, who is usually the Bears’ second runner, was sick and did not race.

Senior Molly Wawrzyniak (18:03.21), sophomore Sarah Fisher (18:25.71) and senior Jessica Londeree (18:44.74) rounded out the women’s team top five.

Freshman Lucy Cheadle missed her second consecutive race with a calf injury.

It was the first 5K of the year for most of the women’s top runners, who did not race at the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville meet two weeks ago. Upcoming meets will be 6K courses.

The men’s and women’s teams both sent out their top ten runners for the “A” race and their next ten for the “B” race. Some men’s runners competed in a “C” race.

Overall, Stiles was pleased with his squads’ performances.

“We had some kids perform great, some kids perform pretty well, some kids that were a little disappointed,” Stiles said. “It’s a hard time every year—it just seems like kids are pretty tired about this time with school and whatnot.”

The Bears have an off week before the Brooks Oshkosh Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 15, when Stiles expects Cheadle to return to action.

Matt Lee | Student Life

Seniors David Spandorfer and Erik Hinrichsen run in the first lap of the 6K at the Washington University Early Bird Meet. Spandorfer and Hinrichsen finished second and third respectively out of the Wash. U. men this weekend and placed 60th and 118th overall in the Greater Louisville Classic.

The meet, held in Louisville’s scenic Tom Sayer State Park, hosted 323 male runners and 302 female runners, making it the largest race of the year for the Bears. The competitors, 35 men’s teams and 38 women’s team, contained many top schools from NCAA Divisions I and II, including D-I heavyweights University of Georgia and University of Louisville.

“There were a ton of really good teams there,” junior Michael Burnstein said. “We were the only D-III school in the race. There were probably eight of the top 10 D-II schools there, as well as some great [D-I teams]. I’d say there was more competition in this race than any race I’ve been in.”

Despite the competition, Burnstein ran well, placing 57th with an 8-km. time of 24:45.68, leading the Wash. U. men. Senior Dave Spandorfer was right on his heels, recording a time of 24:46.84, taking 60th place. The next three Bears to finish were senior Erik Hinrichsen, who finished 118th with a time of 25:20.06, sophomore David Hamm, who finished 123rd in 25:22.36, and junior Tucker Hartley, who finished 156th with a time of 25:35.82.

These five results gave the team a score of 477 points, which placed them 16th, 380 points behind first-place finisher Louisville. In finishing 16th, the Bears beat some of the best athletic programs in the nation, including the University of Kentucky and University of Missouri.

The women’s team also performed well, recording a score of 540 to take 18th in the meet. Freshman Sarah Fisher led the way, finishing in 96th place with a 5-km. time of 18:30.84. Just like they did at the Saluki Invitational last week, the Bears did a great job of running as a team.

“We were really excited about closing the gap between our top five. Usually we have a tight pack in the top four and a big gap between our fourth and fifth finishers, so it was great to see that gap disappear,” junior Erika Jackey said.

The next four Wash. U. finishers were less than 22 seconds behind Fisher. Junior Liz Phillips crossed the finish line in 18:34.31 to take 103rd. Senior Jessica Londeree recorded a time of 18:35.56, finishing 108th. The two runners capping off the tight pack were Jackey, who finished in 18:49.90 and took 141st place, and senior Taryn Surtees, who had a time of 18:52.01 and placed 149th.

“And I know for me personally, it helped so much having teammates push me in that race. Two of my teammates ran in front of me for the whole race, and I just hung on the best I could,” Jackey added. “We just stuck together and helped push each other.”

The two teams will head to Terre Haute, Ind., next Saturday, Oct. 9, to continue their season. The meet, the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Gibson Family Collegiate Invitational, starts at noon.

Against mostly Division I squads, junior Tayrn Surtees was able to lead the women with a time of 18:04:28, and sophomore Michael Burnstein led the men with a time of 25:06:99. Surtees finished 21st and Burnstein finished 45th.

Running against Division I teams like University of Kentucky and Western Kentucky University, two runners on the women’s team were able to break the 20-minute barrier: juniors Jess Londeree (18:44:48) and Sangeeta Hardy (18:55:91).

Freshman runner David Hamm ran for 25:47:62, finishing second among the Washington University runners. Sophomore Malik Nabulsi, who beat his time from last week’s meet by over a minute, said, “I think we left this meet a much better team because we took risks during the race and learned from them.”

Senior Molly Schlamb, the second finisher for the Red and Green, finished 10 seconds behind Surtees. “The race was awesome with perfect weather, a fast course and great competition,” Schlamb said. This is the second meet in a row in which Schlamb finished second for the Bears. Schlamb beat her time from last week’s meet by just under a minute.

The teams continue to have their eyes set on the regional meet in November. The teams did well to continue their drive to qualify, which senior Zach Griffen attributes to the fact that Saturday’s meet was the best meet the teams will run all year. “This meet was all about getting our feet wet,” Griffen said. “NCAA regionals and nationals will be similar to yesterday.”

If Wash. U. runners continue running like they have been, they will be able to run at regionals and continue their trek to qualifying for nationals. The team is slowly working its way up and aiming to field an experienced squad.

“Come regionals we are going to have a strong seven [runners] toe the line, and we will all feel the excitement,” Nabulsi said.