The men’s cross country team placed eighth overall with 243 points, and Kevin Shank ’27 led the men’s team with a 6K time of 19:02.4 for 35th place overall in the race.—Photo courtesy VMI Athletics.
Looking to get off to a great start to the season, the VMI cross country team performed well at the Spider Alumni Open hosted by the University of Richmond at Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville, Virginia, Sept. 2, 2023.
Spider Alumni Open Complete Results
Women’s 4K Results | Men’s 6K Results
The men’s team placed eighth overall with 243 points, while the women’s team arrived in 10th place with 318 points.
Kevin Shank ’27 led the men’s team with a 6K time of 19:02.4 for 35th place overall in the race, and Patrick Lowry ’27 finished second for the team in 41st place in 19:11.3. Ben Hagerich ’26 placed 44th in 19:13.8, and Brian Tavenner ’25 placed 97th overall in 20:21.6. Nicholas Ligday ’26 also scored for VMI in 107th overall in 20:40.2.
Trent Whittaker ’23, Stephen Kelley ’24 , Andrew Hirneisen ’24 , Patrick Kiernan ’25 , John Gibson ’26, Colin Crenshaw ’27 , Michael Kelley ’27, and Jake Falcone ’27 also competed for the Keydets.
“It was a great first meet against nationally ranked Division 1 teams. We competed and ran personal-best performances on the 6K course in perfect running conditions. Our top two finishers were freshmen leading us across the finish line. We have a solid three weeks of training before we line up again against nationally ranked teams at the Paul Short Run.”
Jillian Sisk ’27 led the women with a 32nd-place finish with a 4K time of 14:44.6, and Gretal Shank ’25 finished second for the team in 64th overall in 15:38.8. Olivia Hurd ’27 placed 108th overall in 16:35.3 and Caroline Fiorillo ’25 came in 120th in 16:53.0. Nathalie Lavender ’26 also scored for the Keydets in 140th place at 17:48.6.
Hayden Talbott ’27 also competed for VMI and finished the race in 17:48.8.
“We are rebuilding our women’s team, and we have found some good runners with a lot of potential. Jillian Sisk led our team across the finish line, followed by Gretal Shank and Olivia Hurd. We did not finish in the place we wanted but became stronger runners and will be ready to run better at the Paul Short Run later this month.”
Editor’s note: This article was originally published at vmikeydets.com.
