Tops Wrap Up Second Trip to Nashville with Outing at Commodore Classic

Saturday, September 14

Nashville, Tenn.

8:30 a.m. CT

Western Kentucky University

Commodore Classic

Tops Wrap Up Second Trip to Nashville with Outing at Commodore Classic

9/14/2019 2:57:00 PM | Cross Country

Results

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – WKU Cross Country returned to Music City for the second time in as many outings to compete in the Commodore Classic hosted by Vanderbilt on Saturday morning. Both squads ran their respective race distances for the first time this year as the women finished 20^th in the 6k outing and the men took 15^th in their 8k competition.

"Our top four runners on each side performed pretty well for us today," WKU Cross Country head coach Tim Sykes shared. "On the men's side with the 8k, we had a lot of freshman opening up the 8k distance for the first time. We ran our normal guys and Emerson led us with a PR while Dedrick, Clint Sherman and Jacob Skillman all recorded personal bests as well. Jacob really stepped up for us."

Action from Percy Warner Park – Vaughn's Creek Cross Country Course opened with the men's 8K race. The Hilltoppers finished 15^th across a stacked meet field that included eight Power Five squads.

Emerson Wells led the men's squad with a 26:51.4 showing on the second meet of the season while Dedrick Troxell was close behind with a 27:08.0 reading to finish next for the Red and White. Two of WKU's top-five finishers were freshman as Jacob Skillman and Will Perrone were scorers for the squad.

WKU Men's Results
100^th – Emerson Wells – 26:51.4
114^th – Dedrick Troxell – 27:08.0
123^rd – Clint Sherman – 27:45.2
127^th – Jacob Skillman – 28:02.6
135^th – Will Perrone – 28:45.1
138^th – Jacob Steppe – 29:11.7
140^th – Miles Huff – 29:50.0
141^st – Luke Hoover – 30:00.7
142^nd – Donnie Fry – 30:32.1

On the women's side, WKU finished 20^th in the team standings. The top-six team finishers were all Power Five squads with nine represented in the 20-team field.

Savannah Heckman led the Lady Toppers for the second-consecutive meet, clocking a 24:34.7 for the Red and White. Morgan Kannapel crossed second with a 25:34.6 mark. WKU would see a pair of freshmen finish in the top-five for the team on the women's side as well with Jenna Vaughn and Carley Maskos crossing next.

"Savannah was up front for us on the women's side, running a strong race," Sykes continued. "Morgan finished second for us and ran a really strong race as well. Jenna and Carley finished just behind Morgan while Heather rounded out our top five runners."

WKU Women's Results
159^th – Savannah Heckman – 24:34.7
173^rd – Morgan Kannapel – 25:34.6
175^th – Jenna Vaughn – 25:35.6
181^st – Carley Maskos – 25:56.2
190^th – Heather Whitlow – 28:01.0

WKU will be back in action in three weeks at the Great Louisville Classic on Oct. 5, up the road in Louisville.

"We'll get back to training over the next three meets and continue to work on our fitness but overall this was a great starting point for our first 8k on the men's side and 6k on the women's side of the season," Sykes concluded.

How to follow WKU Cross Country: For complete information on WKU Cross Country, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. Additional information can be found at WKUSports.com.