Cross country season update

By Carson Lemon
Staff Reporter

On Saturday, Oct 4, 2025, both the Men’s and Women’s Cross Country teams ran in the Swags Louisville Cross Country Classic in Louisville, Kentucky. The men’s team ran the 8,000 Meter College Gold, and the highest placers were Nate Carmody and Evan Suydam. Carmody ranked 95th with a time of 25:18.38 while Suydam ranked 142nd with a time of 25:35.24. The women’s team ran the 5,000 Meter College Silver, and the highest placers were Leah Shadduck and Faith Swenor. Shadduck ranked 52nd with a time of 20:53.21, and Swenor ranked 76 with a time of 21:26.15.

At the Louisville Classic, personal and season record were achieved by both the men’s and women’s teams. On the men’s team, ten of the runners saw personal records, with another four runners setting a season record. On the women’s team, only one runner, Malayna Thompson achieved a new personal record, with none of the other runners beating their season record.

This year is the first time that the LCC Men’s Cross Country team has ever run in the gold division of the Louisville Classic. In previous years, the men would typically run in the division below, the blue division. According to the Head Coach of both the Men’s and Women’s Cross Country teams, James Robinson, this was the first ever time that a two-year college has ever ran in the gold division.

Although the majority of the men’s team placed in the bottom third of the gold division, Robinson was still excited about the results. “If you look at our times and then you project them into the blue division, then you take our times ordinarily, we finish in the middle of the pack. This year, we would have won the blue division. So, we did really well,” Robinson said.

With regionals and nationals approaching, Robinson only expects to see more improvement from both of his teams as the season goes on. “Our guys are ranked number one. We have both the talent to do well, and they have been really training at a high level. Then we'll have our best race at nationals and do better than our ranking. That's always the goal,” Robinson said.

The next meet for the LCC Cross Country teams is the Jayhawk Invitational on Saturday, Oct 11, 2025, in Muskegon, MI. Later in the month, both teams will attend the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 12 Championship.