Morehead State senior Justin Moakler set the program's 8K school record, while women's runner Sierra Poppell barely missed a school record as the cross country teams took part in the 2018 Greater Louisville Classic Saturday.
Moakler covered the 8K course in 23:56.5 to finish seventh among 252 competitors. He eclipsed Farah Abdulkarim's previous mark of 24:05.8 set last year at the Pre-Nationals Race and is the first Eagle to run a sub-24 minute rce in school history.
Poppell came across in 26th place with a time of 17:36.8, just eight-tenths of a second off Alanna McCarthy's school mark of 17:36.00 set wall the way back in 1978.
The Eagle men finished 9th out of 29 competing teams. Senior Shane Rigsby narrowly missed a top-10 program time, coming in 36th at 24:45.3. Senior Jordan Carington was next in 64th place with a score of 25:09.6. Junior Jarrett Mattingly ran the course in 25:20.2, while junior Aaron Wier finished in 25:28.4. Sophomore Cody Chism was next on the squad at 26:02.2, while senior Grayson Brookshire rounded out the top seven at 26:24.7.
On the women's side, junior Caitlin Cunninghan tailed Poppell, coming across the tape in 18:15.1. Junior Shelby Watkins was next at 18:26.1, while senior Gloria Corono-Luna crossed in 18:51.7.
The Eagles also had several runners in the men's and women's blue races. Cole Ralenkotter led that contingent with a time of 26:56.5. Sophomore Sydney Young's time of 19:54. 7 led the women in that event.
Both teams will race next on Oct. 12 at the Royals Challenge in Charlotte, N.C.